


Some things don’t change (but we never stay the same)

by notquiteintoxicated



Series: Changes [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: (implied) Kuroo/Oikawa, Canon-Compliant Until End of Shiratorizawa Match, Emotional Constipation, Fluff, Future Fic, Light Angst, M/M, Slow Burn, Unreliable Narrator, minor original characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-07-27 02:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 57,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7599721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notquiteintoxicated/pseuds/notquiteintoxicated
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six years after graduating from Karasuno High School, Tsukishima works for a monthly sports magazine while Kageyama is the reclusive rising star of professional volleyball. When Kageyama’s rookie pro volleyball team wins the championship, Tsukishima is tasked to secure the interview with his former teammate. Needless to say, Tsukishima is not entirely pleased with this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ~~This has been sitting in my laptop for months. It was supposed to be a three-chapter thing and I didn't want to post until it was complete but several months later, I have a 15k monster on my hands with the ending still far away. I don't like posting WIPs but I'm posting this now to pressure myself a bit to get off my ass and work on finishing this.~~
> 
> IT'S DONE I ACTUALLY FINISHED IT OH MY GOD

“This season is definitely one of my favorites. The Falcons, otherwise known as everyone’s favorite Cinderella story, came from being the rookie team nobody believed in to a promising dark horse and finally to champions!”

“I’ve always been more of a basketball kind of guy but I followed this season because of that team. I got to tell you, man, that setter of theirs is a genius.”

“Oh, are you guys talking about the recent V Premier League?”

“Yeah, we were just talking about the Falcons’ setter. It’s like he came out of nowhere. The guy’s a monster.”

“He was definitely great. Considering this is his first time playing in the professional league, that performance was nothing short of awe-inspiring.”

Tsukishima hiked his headphones over his head and cranked the volume up. Two weeks since Kageyama’s team won the V Premier League championship and it seemed it was still the only thing everyone wanted to talk about. Yes, the guy was a genius who carried a newly-established team to become champions of the professional volleyball league. Everyone with even the slightest iota of interest in volleyball knew that. It was really about time that Tsukishima’s co-workers got over it.

With the sound of his co-workers' chatter sufficiently drowned, Tsukishima turned back to his computer for some last minute touch-ups on the cover photo of their next issue but his view was obstructed by an obnoxious hand being waved in front of his face.

Tsukishima yanked his headphones off and glared at the culprit – the new intern whose name he couldn’t remember. “What do you want?”

“I’ve been calling your name for, like, three times now. Chief said she has a special assignment for you and wants you to report to her office.”

Tsukishima made a face. “That sounds ominous.”

“Should I report back to Chief and tell her that?” The intern gave Tsukishima a mischievous smile. Tsukishima made a mental note to ask who was in charge of training the interns; they couldn’t be doing a decent job if the interns were turning out like this.

“No, thanks.” Tsukishima stood up. “I rather enjoy having all my limbs attached to my body. I’ll go see her now.”

#

Tsukishima was immediately assaulted with a question the moment he stepped into their Editor-in-Chief’s office.

“Do you know what this is?” Chief waved a folder in front of Tsukishima’s face (which was really rude, by the way). “ _This_ is your personal file. I remembered that you went to Karasuno High School but I wasn’t sure so I had it checked and, according to this, not only did you go to Karasuno, you were also a part of the volleyball team.”

“…Yeah, that’s about right,” Tsukishima said, despite having absolutely no idea how all of this information was relevant to whatever ‘special assignment’ the chief had in mind.

Chief walked over to Tsukishima and squeezed his shoulders in delight. “That’s perfect!”

Tsukishima tried not to wince. Chief had a vice-like grip and it didn’t really help that she kept her nails long and _pointed_. “Sorry, Chief, I don’t follow – and that kind of hurts.”

“Ah, I apologize.” Chief, thankfully, let go of Tsukishima. “I may have gotten a bit excited once I discovered that you played in the same high school team as him.”

“Him?”

“Kageyama Tobio! The Falcons’ genius setter! Professional volleyball’s newest rising star!” Chief prattled on with accompanying grand hand gestures, “We’re planning to do a profile story on him in our next issue but the guy has a reputation of shunning the media. Of course, we still tried getting in touch with his agent but, alas, the rumors are true. The guy refuses to do any kind of interview with anyone, but–”

The words ‘special assignment’ echoed in Tsukishima’s head.

“–we figured we have a better chance of convincing him if one of his former teammates were to ask him. So, I’ve decided that you’ll be photographer for this project _and_ I want you to personally book this interview since we’re banking on your association with Kageyama to get him to agree to it. Are you listening?”

Tsukishima suppressed a groan. “Yes, I am, though I’m sorry to break this to you, Chief, but there’s a bit of a problem with that plan.”

“And what would that problem be?”

“Kageyama and I didn’t get along back in high school. If anything, my involvement in this will only ensure that he never agrees to any interview with our magazine ever.”

“Come on, don’t be melodramatic. Your relationship couldn’t be all that bad if you were able to play together for three years on the same team.”

“Funny you should say that because I’m pretty sure the guy hates me.”

“I’m not asking you for a favor, Tsukishima.” There was a glint of something scary and unpleasant in the Chief’s eye which reminded Tsukishima exactly why he made the effort to stay on the Chief’s good side. “I want you to get an interview with Kageyama Tobio for our magazine. This is a job I’m assigning to you as your superior. Do you think you can do it?”

Tsukishima got the message loud and clear. He never had a choice in this matter to begin with. “Yes, Chief,” he forced out.

Chief gave Tsukishima a smile that sent a chill up the latter’s spine. “See, I knew there’s a reason why you’re my favorite.”

#

Word got around in the magazine publishing industry, and although Tsukishima hadn’t tried asking Kageyama for an interview before (as if he would), he knew the story well enough, heard it many times before from several other reporters.

The story went like this: Kageyama Tobio was an extremely private individual who considered himself strictly as an athlete and made no attempts at all to take advantage of his increasing popularity and growing status as a celebrity. In fact, he seemed to be particularly disgusted at the thought of being seen as anything resembling a celebrity. Kageyama’s gatekeeper, otherwise known as his agent, was as dedicated as Kageyama in making sure that this privacy and non-celebrity status was maintained, which meant that requesting an interview with Kageyama through his agent was always met with a short, straight-to-the-point refusal.

The reporters Tsukishima spoke to already had it memorized.

_‘Sorry, but Kageyama Tobio isn’t interested in doing interviews of any sort. He’s an athlete, not a celebrity, and he would appreciate it if the media just left him alone and let him play the sport he loves in peace. His stance on interviews is non-negotiable. Please stop calling.’_

The information Tsukishima got from the reporters he talked to should have been enough proof that going through Kageyama’s agent was useless, but Tsukishima called the agent anyway; he had the smallest inkling of hope that if he could get through Kageyama’s agent, he wouldn’t have to speak to Kageyama. Unfortunately, the agent really was a dead end and Tsukishima was met with the same rehearsed response.

Tsukishima kind of expected the agent’s refusal; the thought of getting the agent to agree to the interview was mostly wishful thinking on his part. If he really wanted to get this interview, he would have to do exactly as the Chief said and call Kageyama personally, asking for the interview in his capacity as Kageyama’s former teammate, an endeavor that was very likely going to end in failure, anyway, and would result in the Chief making his life a living hell.

 _I could probably just hand over my resignation right now to get it over with,_ Tsukishima thought. This ‘special assignment’ was nothing but a problem of epic proportions. He didn’t even know Kageyama’s phone number. Plus, they had that whole sordid history from high school between the two of them.

Kageyama would definitely reject Tsukishima’s request for an interview and have fun doing it. He might even gloat about it, if Tsukishima was particularly unlucky.

If this was what being the Chief’s favorite was like, then Tsukishima would rather that she hated him.


	2. Chapter 2

Yamaguchi was the obvious choice.

Yamaguchi went to the same university as Hinata (which was something Tsukishima never saw coming) and, until about a year ago, had been sharing an apartment with the latter.

If any one of their former teammates had Kageyama’s number, it would be Hinata, and Yamaguchi would probably be able to get it – provided that he didn’t tell Hinata for whom he was getting it.

Tsukishima wasn’t too keen on renewing his ties with Hinata no matter how indirectly (there was a reason he didn’t want to work on any assignment involving the Suntory Sunbirds team), but Hinata had a good enough relationship with Yamaguchi to give Kageyama’s number without being suspicious.

It could work. Assuming, of course, that Yamaguchi went along with Tsukishima's plan. Considering that the last time they spoke to one another, Yamaguchi had yapped non-stop about Tsukishima’s absence from Asahi’s wedding (apparently, Nishinoya and Tanaka were threatening to find him and drag him forcefully to the wedding while their former captains, Sawamura and Ennoshita, both looked _very disappointed_ ) and obvious efforts to avoid their former teammates, Yamaguchi would probably just tell him to get Kageyama’s number from Hinata himself.

Being forced to call Kageyama was bad enough, but Hinata as well? Yeah. Asking Yamaguchi wasn’t a very good idea, after all.

Tsukishima took his phone out and scrolled through his phonebook. There was one other person who could probably get him Kageyama’s number. It was a lot more roundabout than going through Yamaguchi and had less chance of being successful but it was worth a shot, particularly if Tsukishima really wanted to avoid asking for Yamaguchi’s help.

“Oh ho, to what do I owe this pleasure?” The voice on the other line greeted.

“I need a favor.”

“Wow, Tsukki. First time I receive a call from you in months and you’re not even going to pretend to ask me how I’m doing? Not the conduct I would expect from someone who wants to ask a favor.”

“I don’t exactly have time for pleasantries right now, Kuroo.”

“Really now? What could possibly be so urgent and important that you’d forget your manners?”

Kuroo sounded every bit as patronizing as Tsukishima expected, but this was typical Kuroo – Tsukishima would lose if he got annoyed. The best way to deal with it was to ignore the provocation and focus on the reason why he called in the first place. “I need you to get Kageyama’s phone number for me.”

That seemed to have caught Kuroo by surprise because a few seconds passed before he answered. “Oh, yeah? What do you need it for? Did you finally take your head out of your ass and decide to confess your feelings?”

Classic Kuroo. “Don’t be an idiot.” Tsukishima deadpanned.

“Are you still in denial about that? You were totally into him when you were in high school, and judging by your reaction just now, you probably still are.”

Tsukishima gritted his teeth in annoyance. “I don’t have time for your games right now. My job depends on this.”

Kuroo laughed. “Come on! Lighten up, Tsukki! I’m just messing with you. So, you need Kageyama’s phone number for work? Why are you asking _me_ to get it for you? Why not ask any of your former teammates?”

“Are you seriously asking me that?"

A pause. “Are you still on about that? Man, Tsukki, it’s been _years_.”

“I didn’t call you to have that conversation – and I know you know someone who might have Kageyama’s number.”

“Whoa, wait – you want me to get it from Oikawa.” It wasn’t a question. “Look, I get along with the guy, but I don’t want to ask him for _anything_. His nasty personality really shines through when he’s asked for a favor – and that’s coming from _me_ , so imagine how awful that is.”

“No need to imagine.” Tsukishima still remembered the absolute clusterfuck of an interview he and his colleague had to go through with Oikawa. “But I don’t have a choice. You’re the only one I can go to for this, otherwise, why do you think would I be desperate enough to ask you in the first place?”

“Okay, fair enough. But assuming I do this for you, what do I even get in return?”

“And here I thought I heard you say once that you’re always nice.” Tsukishima knew Kuroo would ask something in return for the favor and he had a good offer prepared. “I have the phone number of that courtside reporter you spotted a while back. I’ll give it to you in exchange for Kageyama’s.”

“Hah! Now, you’re talking. Alright, I’ll see what I can do. Give me a few days.”

“Thanks.” Tsukishima ended the call and reclined in his seat.

Well, that went a lot better than expected. Kuroo was being surprisingly generous… either that or he was just happy to have a reason to call Oikawa, because no matter what Kuroo said about his current ‘arrangement’ with the guy, Tsukishima was convinced that there was something more going on there...

Tsukishima shook his head to shoo the thoughts away. It was none of his business what Kuroo did with Oikawa, what he cared about was whether Kuroo could get him Kageyama’s number or not. Right now, that was Priority Number One.

#

It was two days after their conversation that Tsukishima was able to confirm, once and for all, that Kuroo wasn’t entirely useless.

 _Oikawa was a bit suspicious when he learned that you’re asking for Kageyama’s number but he gave it eventually,_ Kuroo’s message read, _Here it is xxx-xxxx-xxxx. Use it wisely. P.S. Oikawa says ‘Hi.’_

Tsukishima chose to ignore the ‘use it wisely’ jab and the undoubtedly sarcastic ‘Hi’ from Oikawa. He replied to Kuroo with a hastily typed ‘Thanks, I owe you’ before saving Kageyama’s number into his contact list. He would have preferred to spend more time gathering his thoughts and come up with a way to start a conversation with someone he hadn’t talked to in years – someone who probably hated him with a fiery passion and would want to see him literally burn. There was a good chance that he would get hung up on the moment Kageyama realized who was calling, but seeing as he already spent two days waiting to get Kageyama’s number, he didn’t really have the luxury of time and figured he should call Kageyama immediately.

Tsukishima pressed ‘call’ before he could change his mind.

“Hello?”

Ah, Tsukishima hadn’t heard that gruff tone in years. “Kageyama.”

Silence.

And then. “Tsukishima?”

Tsukishima was taken aback. He didn’t think Kageyama would recognize his voice right away.

“Where did you get my number?” Kageyama asked.

Tsukishima internally debated telling Kageyama or not. If Kageyama was pissed that Tsukishima somehow got a hold of his number then Oikawa would definitely appreciate the former. Kuroo, on the other hand, would not be pleased. “Ah, that’s – that’s not really important right now.”

From Kageyama’s end, Tsukishima heard the sound of rustling blankets and then bare feet hitting the floor. His eyes went to his watch on reflex. _10:30 a.m._ Today was probably a day-off.

“Yeah, I suppose. Why are you calling?” Kageyama’s tone was measured. Clipped. Like he was trying very hard to remain civil and not say the wrong thing.

‘Civil’ was more than Tsukishima could ever ask for, really.

Tsukishima braced himself. _Here it goes._ “I’m calling to ask you for an interview. I work for a sports magazine and our editor wants to run a profile story on you.”

The outright rejection Tsukishima was expecting didn't come.

“You’re a reporter?” Kageyama sounded a lot more relaxed now. Amused, even.

“No, I’m a photographer.”

Tsukishima was startled to hear Kageyama having a laughing fit on the other end. _That’s unexpected._

“I never imagined something like this happening,” Kageyama said when he calmed down, “but sorry, I don’t give interviews. And before you get any ideas that I’m refusing because you’re the one asking, let me say this: I refuse everyone.”

“Is there a reason for that?”

Kageyama sighed. “Well, they’re all just focusing on me as though I won the championship alone. I hate it.”

If Tsukishima’s life was a cartoon, then this was the moment where a light bulb would suddenly appear above his head. He suddenly understood why Kageyama always turned interview requests away and, the Chief was right in a sense, the fact that he used to be teammates with Kageyama played a big part.

As much as he would’ve tried to deny it, three years of playing in the same team ensured that when it came to volleyball, Tsukishima understood how Kageyama’s mind worked.

“I’m not really in the position to ask but, how about a different proposal?” Tsukishima slowly found himself starting to get a little less tense about this phone call. At the very least, Kageyama hadn’t cursed him to the moon and back and then hung up on him. That was probably a good sign. “Instead of the profile about you, a full-length feature on the entire Falcons team with short profiles for each player. Would you agree to that? I’m pretty sure your teammates would love to be featured in a magazine.”

There was silence on Kageyama’s end. Tsukishima didn’t dare disturb it. This time, silence was good. Silence meant that the gears in Kageyama’s head were turning and he was actually considering his suggestion.

“I’ll do the interview,” Kageyama finally said, “but only if my teammates also agree to it.”

Tsukishima took care not to sound too triumphant. “Great. I’ll report back to my boss and we’ll get in touch with your team manager soon.”

“Yeah. Of course. Uh, by the way, Tsukishima, about what happened–”

“Okay, great. I’ll call you again.”

Tsukishima ended the call before Kageyama could say anything else. He _did not_ call to talk about whatever Kageyama wanted to talk about (he knew _exactly_ what Kageyama wanted to talk about).

All that remained now was getting the Chief to agree with his idea and finishing this assignment as soon as possible.


	3. Chapter 3

To say that the Chief was happy to hear about Kageyama’s answer was an understatement. In fact, she was absolutely _ecstatic_ about it that she conveniently forgot that Tsukishima decided on the new proposal on his own. Apparently, it didn’t matter as long as he produced results so, you know, hooray for that. Tsukishima Kei gets to keep his limbs intact for one more day.

The Chief did bring up the idea of running a full-length feature on the entire Falcons team and a single full-length length profile story for Kageyama, her reason being that it was actually Kageyama’s story that they wanted. Tsukishima promptly put an end to that.

_“How about we run the full-length article on the team and then just have one profile story for Kageyama?” Chief had said, “I mean, it’s Kageyama that we actually want here. We’re not that interested in the other players.”_

_“Kageyama will never agree to that.” Tsukishima replied with as much conviction as he could muster, just falling short of adding that Kageyama would absolutely loathe that idea. “Either we give the rest of the team the same treatment and importance or we could kiss any hope of landing an interview with Kageyama goodbye.”_

Tsukishima made sure to point out that the length of the stories didn’t matter. What Kageyama really got prissy about was the thought of him being held under a spotlight while the rest of his teammates got sidelined, and since doing full-length individual profiles for all 20 players on the Falcons team meant a ton of work and would be difficult to achieve within their one-month timeframe, Tsukishima’s original plan of doing _short_ profile stories for each member of the team (including Kageyama) was the most feasible idea.

Chief eventually relented and in the days following Tsukishima’s conversation with her, almost everyone in the Sports Monthly staff was busy calling the rest of the Falcons and booking them for interviews.

Fortunately, the rest of Kageyama’s teammates were a lot easier to convince (Tsukishima was right when he said that they would love to be featured in a magazine) and in less than two weeks, all the details for the feature on the Falcons team had been fleshed out and the only thing left to do was conducting the actual interviews – a task that fell squarely onto the shoulders of Tsukishima and one of Sports Monthly’s regular writers, Fujiwara.

Fujiwara was a tall, lanky man in his thirties who smoked like a chimney and wore a perpetually unkempt beard. Tsukishima always thought that he looked like a complete slacker. It was probably the unironed shirts. Although, appearances aside, Fujiwara was good at his job and was quite well-known in the field so, all things considered, Tsukishima should be glad that he got assigned with Fujiwara and not some greenhorn writer. Unfortunately, however, Fujiwara was a bit on the nosy side and, ever since they were assigned to work together, seemed to be intent on making small talk with Tsukishima every chance he got.

“So tell me, what was Kageyama like back in high school?” Fujiwara asked one day when he went out for a smoke and chanced upon Tsukishima having coffee outside their office building.

Tsukishima took a gulp from his coffee to buy time. Fujiwara’s question was, surprisingly, difficult to answer. He racked his brain for anything to say.

Probably noticing Tsukishima’s hesitation in answering, Fujiwara elaborated on the question. “I mean, what’s his personality like? Cold and mysterious? Arrogant? The public knows jackshit about him. I want to have a bit of an idea what I’m going to be working with.”

Arrogant? Tsukishima certainly thought so, but that was back when Kageyama was still in middle school – at the height of the King of the Court’s reign. If Tsukishima was being honest, Kageyama wasn’t all that arrogant when they played together in Karasuno. It might’ve come across as arrogance to other people but, halfway through their second year in high school, Tsukishima realized that with Kageyama, it was less about being arrogant and more about having unwavering belief in his abilities.

Tsukishima stared down at the cup in his hand to avoid meeting Fujiwara’s eyes. The cup was already half-empty. “He’s a bit slow on the uptake. Kind of an idiot, actually.” Tsukishima heard Fujiwara snigger. “But he’s a veritable genius when it comes to volleyball, it’s almost scary. He’s probably too stupid about a lot of things because he uses all of his brain cells for volleyball.”

“So he’s one of those ‘idiot savants,’ huh?”

Tsukishima remembered that time when Kageyama complained about having to study for exams, saying that he wasn’t good at memorization, only to be proven wrong when Captain Sawamura unknowingly made him demonstrate how quickly he memorized their signs.

“That description isn’t one hundred percent accurate but close enough.”

Fujiwara appeared thoughtful. “You sure you guys weren’t close back then? Your description of him seems to be quite insightful.”

Tsukishima wanted to laugh. “The things I just told you, you could easily pick up once you start talking to the guy. In reality, I know nothing about Kageyama.” _Nothing that actually mattered,_ he almost wanted to add. “We played together on the same team for three years but we weren’t friends.”

“I see.” Fujiwara took a long drag from his cigarette. “But how about as a teammate? What’s he like?”

Fujiwara’s earlier question catching him off-guard was nothing compared to this one. As if on cue, memories from what felt like a lifetime ago involuntarily resurfaced in Tsukishima’s mind.

_A shit-eating grin and a litany of taunts (‘King of the Court,’ Tsukishima’s brain needlessly supplied), followed by calloused hands grabbing him by the collar and glaring eyes daring him to say that wretched moniker again…_

_A pair of boys standing in front of a volleyball net, shoving at one another as though they didn’t belong to the same team…_

_A perfectly delivered toss appearing right in front of his hand, too precise to the point of being creepy…_

_A hand tugging at his shirt, holding him back, as if to say, ‘No. Wait. Don’t jump yet…’_

_A horribly mangled attempt at saying the word ‘nice’ (N-naf, niffss, nice…)_

_A sharp cry of pain following the sound of metal hitting bone…_

_…_

_…_

Tsukishima downed the rest of his coffee, ignoring the protests from his stomach as bile threatened to come forth. “My break is over. I’m going back to work.” He tossed his coffee cup into the trash and hastily left, lest Fujiwara decided to ask him any more questions.


	4. Chapter 4

The Blue Falcons Men’s Volleyball Team was owned and financed by TG Motors, a car company owned by a young (by industry standards), charismatic, and rather eccentric billionaire, who also happened to be a huge sports fan (there were rumors floating around that following the success of the volleyball team, the owner of TG Motors was now considering establishing a baseball team).

Tsukishima already knew this information about the owner of the team prior to the start of the interviews so he knew that the Blue Falcons would not be lacking in the funds department. However, learning a fact and actually seeing solid proof of said fact before your eyes were two very different things and Tsukishima found himself in sincere awe at the Blue Falcons Training Complex, whose land area seemed to be big enough to accommodate a small town.

The Falcons’ Team Manager, Sasaki, was more than happy to give Fujiwara and Tsukishima a tour around the complex while they waited for the team to arrive, and like a true tour guide, the slight, bespectacled man readily listed off information about the center’s “unique and state of the art” (his words) facilities.

The complex included, among other things, a Fitness Room fully-equipped for core, cardio, strength, and agility training; a Video Room that looked more like a mini cinema, dedicated for analyzing practices and matches; a very comfortable looking Players’ Lounge, perfect for players wanting to unwind a bit (complete with multiple gaming consoles, flat screen TVs, computers, etc.); and a rather swanky cafeteria.

What really stood out to Tsukishima, however, was the last stop of their tour and venue for today’s interviews – the Falcons’ huge-ass volleyball gym. The gym was big enough to house eight courts and was divided into two sections; four of the courts had sand flooring while the other four had hardwood floors.

“Why sand?” Fujiwara asked, interrupting Sasaki’s impassioned reenactment of the players’ reactions the first time they set foot inside the gym.

The look on Sasaki’s face told Tsukishima that the team manager had been expecting – no, _hoping_ – that one of them would ask that question.

“Playing on a sand surface is great for improving jumping power and running speed,” Sasaki said with the affected air of an _expert_ , “and compared to training on other surfaces, sand training offers faster results.”

Fujiwara jotted something down in his notebook. “So that’s sand on one side and hardwood on the other. I’m guessing they do their training half-and-half?”

“Correct. But that’s not your typical hardwood. Our hardwood courts have ‘floating’ floors, which offer better cushioning and shock absorption. We only provide the best for our players, you see.”

“Yeah, no shit. Just look at the size of this entire complex.”

“We’re simply looking ahead. We’re planning to house other teams here _if_ , in the future, TG Motors decides to form other sports teams, hence, the massive land area.”

“Does that mean the rumors are true? TG is going to form a baseball team?” Tsukishima asked.

Sasaki’s facial expression all but confirmed the rumors, but before he could even give a definitive answer, the members of the Blue Falcons arrived and started entering the gym, which meant that Sasaki promptly ignored Fujiwara and Tsukishima in favor of addressing the arriving players.

The three of them were standing a court away from the entrance so Sasaki had to shout. “You guys are five minutes late!” Sasaki made quick work of counting the players present. Tsukishima silently counted along with him. There were nineteen players. “And you’re missing one person!”

Sasaki took his phone out and made a call. “Sato, where’s your charge?”

Sato. Tsukishima recognized the name to be that of Kageyama’s agent.

_Did Kageyama change his mind?_

“Oh, for the love of – Sato, I’ll hear your excuses later. Just get him here quickly.” Sasaki ended the call and addressed Fujiwara and Tsukishima. “I’m sorry about that. Kageyama’s agent got into a bit of a… _situation_ so they’re running a bit late. But he’s coming, I assure you.”

“It’s fine. We’re not worried about him bailing out at the last minute,” Fujiwara gestured to Tsukishima with his thumb. “Tsukishima actually asked him for the interview, and they were teammates in high school so, yeah. No worries here.”

Sasaki looked like this was news to him. “To be honest, I’ve been wondering how you were able to get Kageyama to agree to this interview. So that’s how it was. He wouldn’t refuse a former teammate. I must say that guy’s really big on team spirit and camaraderie. That’s why he’s such a perfect fit for the Falcons. The players and staff, they treat one another like family. Kageyama’s a bit on the quiet side and comes off as aloof at first but he’s a nice guy.” Sasaki turned to Tsukishima. “Though, having been teammates for three years, you probably knew all that about him already.”

The statement was spoken innocently enough, friendly even, but Tsukishima heard it like a challenge, like he was being asked to prove that he and Kageyama had been actual teammates in spirit and not just in name. This was a challenge that Tsukishima would ultimately fail.

Sasaki, for his part, seemed to have taken Tsukishima’s lack of response as a sign of being offended and quickly backtracked. “Sorry, I wasn’t implying anything with that question.” He turned to Fujiwara with an exaggerated smile. “Uh, why don’t we get started with the interviews? Almost everyone in the team is already here anyway. Kageyama can just catch up.”

“Yeah, that’s a great idea.” Fujiwara said. “Please lead the way.”

Tsukishima made a move to follow Fujiwara and Sasaki and, from the corner of his eye, saw Fujiwara steal a glance at him. Tsukishima remained silent. Impassive and poker-faced as ever.

#

The individual interviews, as far as Tsukishima was concerned, were going off without a hitch. Being the photographer, he wasn’t actually required to sit through the entirety of Fujiwara’s one-on-one conversations with the players so he took the time to take individual shots of the other players waiting for their turn. Although, he did want to take some candid photos of the players while they were being interviewed, so after taking individual photos of everyone, he went back and started walking around Fujiwara and each interviewee, looking for the best angles for his photos.

Fujiwara had decided earlier that the sequence of interviews should go in random order and the player he was currently interviewing was the Falcons’ vice-captain (named ‘Ryuzaki,’ if Tsukishima remembered correctly).

“…not downplaying the skills of the rest of the team, but having Kageyama is a real game-changer,” Tsukishima heard Ryuzaki say, “I didn’t exactly have high hopes for our first season in the pros. I mean, I sincerely believe that we are a strong team, but so are the other teams, and they have the advantage of experience. For the first season, I figured we’ll just try to go as far as we can in the competition and gain as much experience as possible. Kageyama joining the team changed that. When I found out from the coach that he was joining us, that was when I legitimately thought that we had a shot at the championship.”

Fujiwara looked like he was carefully considering what Ryuzaki said. “Judging from that, I’m guessing you’ve known about Kageyama before you even became teammates. You played for Nekoma in high school, a known rival of Kageyama’s high school team. Was that when you met him?”

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at that. If this Ryuzaki guy played for Nekoma while Kageyama played for Karasuno, then Tsukishima should recognize him, which, for the record, he did not.

“No. I graduated a year before Kageyama started high school. I didn’t get the chance to play in the revived Nekoma-Karasuno rivalry,” Ryuzaki said ruefully, “I religiously followed their games, though. Even the ones where they didn’t play against each other. The championship match in Kageyama’s third year was pretty intense. I remember there were rumors that he–”

“Ahem.” Tsukishima forcefully cleared his throat. “Can I ask Ryuzaki to move a bit to the right? I can’t seem to get a good angle on him.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Fujiwara looked at Tsukishima suspiciously. He seemed to think that something was up but didn’t say anything.

Ryuzaki had already moved as requested during the brief exchange between Fujiwara and Tsukishima and by the time Fujiwara’s attention turned back to him, the former already moved on to a different subject and Ryuzaki’s earlier train of thought was consequently abandoned.

# 

Fujiwara had just finished wrapping up his 19th interview of the day and Kageyama had still yet to show his face. Sasaki was already whispering frantically into his phone and getting extra fidgety and, though he would never admit it, even Tsukishima was beginning to worry. Only Fujiwara remained calm through it all, but Tsukishima hardly ever saw the man get riled up _ever_ so he decided that Fujiwara didn’t really count.

After his call, Sasaki went over to Fujiwara and tried to reassure the man, even though he looked like he was the one who needed the reassurance. “I just spoke to Kageyama’s agent. They got held up in heavy traffic but they’ll be here in five minutes. We really apologize for making you wait.”

“We don’t really mind. We just finished the second to the last interview for today as well so, technically, Kageyama’s right on schedule.” Fujiwara said with no hint of sarcasm.

 _He really is a very laid-back guy,_ Tsukishima thought. If this were any of the other reporters from their magazine, they’d be throwing a fit right now (out of the team manager’s earshot, of course) because of Kageyama’s lack of professionalism.

Sasaki looked over to Tsukishima. “I hope this doesn’t negatively affect your friendship with Kageyama.”

“Don’t worry. That’s not going to happen.” _There’s no ‘friendship’ to speak of._

“That’s really great to hear. I would hate for this to ruin–”

“We’re here! Sorry we’re late!” A female voice announced from the gym entrance.

Tsukishima turned to look at the source of said voice and saw a petite, short haired woman, who he assumed was Kageyama's agent, Sato. Sato was saying something else but it stopped making sense to Tsukishima once he noticed the person standing behind her – a tall man wearing a Blue Falcon jersey and an eerily familiar scowl that definitely did not belong on the face of someone who had the gall to arrive late to an important appointment.

_His Majesty has arrived._

Kageyama strode into the gym like he owned the goddamn place.

He stopped in front of Sasaki to give the man a brief apology and then went over to Fujiwara to introduce himself. After exchanging pleasantries with the writer, Kageyama’s gaze finally wandered off to where Tsukishima was standing, locking stares with his former teammate.

“Tsukishima.” Kageyama said. Monotone.

“Kageyama.” Tsukishima answered in much the same manner.

Sasaki and Fujiwara both watched the exchange with curious eyes. Sasaki looked like he was worried that Kageyama’s tardiness would irrevocably ruin his ‘friendship’ with a former teammate and was merely watching for Tsukishima’s reaction, while Fujiwara looked like he was carefully collecting the pieces of a puzzle he was trying to solve.

Fujiwara loudly clapped his hands together. “Right. Now that we’ve got the greetings out of the way, why don’t we get started with the interview?” He looked over to Tsukishima. “You should take a seat and join us, seeing as you and Kageyama are former teammates and all. You can just take the photos later.”

Tsukishima looked at Fujiwara like the man had gone crazy. There’s no reason for him to sit with them during the interview. He was the photographer for fuck’s sake. This wasn’t how they did things. Tsukishima wanted to refuse. He was _going_ to refuse – but Sasaki saw it fit to make his decision for him.

“Oh, that would be great!” Sasaki said happily, “No need to be all stiff and formal with this interview since we’re all friends here, right?”

Tsukishima looked to Sato (she seemed reasonable enough) for any kind of help in getting out of being coerced into joining Kageyama’s interview. She gave him a beaming smile and a thumbs up for encouragement. _So much for that._

“Great! Then that’s settled. Take a seat here, Tsukishima.” Fujiwara manhandled Tsukishima into an empty seat beside him, facing Kageyama. “Okay. Let’s get started, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so they finally meet again and they said each other's names... how exciting... *nervous laughter*
> 
> sorry when i said slow burn i meant it


	5. Chapter 5

Contrary to what his appearance might suggest, Fujiwara took his job very seriously. He had never gone to an interview unprepared and this interview with Kageyama was no exception.

As reclusive as Kageyama may be, Fujiwara did as much background research as he could on the guy, from which, he learned that Tsukishima had been right about Kageyama being a _genius_ at volleyball – all of the people who had seen Kageyama play corroborated that statement when Fujiwara talked to them. Although, Kageyama’s former coach from middle school did talk about a problematic event in Kageyama’s youth that happened right in the middle of an important game. Apparently, his entire team turned against him and refused to hit any of the sets he delivered to them.

“As brilliant as he is, I had to take him out of the game,” the coach had said. “He didn’t have a very good relationship with his teammates to start with and I guess that game was the tipping point. Even then, he was already very talented, though he lacked the maturity to deal with it and that contributed to his tense relationship with his teammates. He was very unforgiving with teammates who couldn’t perform at his level and, in turn, his teammates grew to resent him.

“To this day, I think of that event as a testament to my failure as Kageyama’s coach. I was unable to guide him properly, which is why I was very happy when I saw that he found a place in Karasuno. I’m really proud of what he was able to achieve with them.”

And that was the magic word.

Karasuno.

At Karasuno High School, Kageyama found a team that drew out his full potential and teammates who perfectly complemented him. If Kageyama’s volleyball career were a novel trilogy, his years playing for Karasuno would be the character-transforming, universally-loved second book.

But, unfortunately, Karasuno ended on a cliffhanger.

After the team won the championship in Kageyama’s third year, everyone expected Kageyama to go on to play at the college level with a powerhouse team, except, after graduating from high school, Kageyama disappeared off to fuck knows where and hadn’t been heard of in the volleyball scene. That is, until he appeared five years later as the setter of a rookie team on the V Premier League.

And that was the great mystery, wasn’t it?

Why did Kageyama suddenly quit volleyball after high school and what happened in those five years?

# 

Fujiwara carefully observed the interaction (or its lack, thereof) between Kageyama and Tsukishima. For two people who spent all three years of high school playing together on the same volleyball team, the two were being surprisingly guarded around one another. Tsukishima did say that they weren’t close friends, but Fujiwara had at least expected some cordial, if awkward, small talk and not this tense silence.

“I hope you don’t mind having Tsukishima join us,” Fujiwara said to Kageyama. “I just figured you’d be more comfortable with the interview if we had your former teammate here.”

Kageyama wasn’t used to being interviewed so Fujiwara deliberately asked Tsukishima to join them to make the setting more familiar, however, Fujiwara was slowly beginning to realize that this wasn’t the best idea. He didn’t know what happened between Kageyama and Tsukishima in the past but he could recognize a strained relationship when he saw one (just ask his ex-wife).

For the first time in a long time, veteran sports writer Fujiwara Daisuke was at a loss. He wasn’t sure how he should proceed with this interview. The atmosphere surrounding Kageyama and Tsukishima was too tense, too charged. He felt like a soldier passing through a mine field. One misstep and the entire thing would blow up in his face.

“So, Kageyama,” Fujiwara began, “how did you get started playing volleyball?”

“I started playing when I was in elementary school,” came Kageyama’s sparing reply.

“I see.” Fujiwara scribbled in his notepad. _Taciturn. Refine questions._ “But what got you into it? Why volleyball and not another sport or activity?”

“It was my mother. She signed me up for the kids’ volleyball club at the local community center…” Kageyama hesitated. Fujiwara caught him steal a glance in Tsukishima’s direction. “…she said it was so I could make friends with kids close to my age.”

There was a story there, Fujiwara was certain. But, as a rule of thumb, Fujiwara didn’t like to ask questions that had no relevance to the story he was writing, so he opted to shelve that observation for the meantime, only to be picked up again once deemed important.

“I guess in this case we can say that mother’s truly know best because you’ve shown great talent in volleyball even when you were still in elementary. By the time you were about to enter middle school, scouts were falling all over themselves to recruit you into their teams,” Fujiwara said, “Out of all the teams that invited you to join them, what made you decide to play for Kitagawa Daiichi?”

“They’re a strong team with great players.”

More and more, Kageyama was revealing himself to be a ‘one question, one answer’ kind of guy. Fujiwara was getting frustrated.

“Can’t argue with that. Kitaiichi _is_ known to be a powerhouse team in Miyagi. It has its share of famous volleyball alumni, including you, of course, and Osaka Blazers’ setter, Oikawa Tooru.” Fujiwara wasn’t sure how he could get Kageyama to talk more but he figured trying to be conversational and appealing to a familiar story could do the trick. “Speaking of Oikawa, did you get the chance to play with him back then?”

“Just a little. He was already in his third year when I joined the team and he – we didn’t get along very well. But I learned a lot from watching him. He’s an excellent player.”

 _Didn’t get along very well._ Fujiwara seemed to be hearing that phrase (and its variations) quite frequently when talking about Kageyama and his former teammates. Even Tsukishima said the same thing. Maybe Kageyama Tobio was actually an asshole to his team mates? Although, that would contradict what Manager Sasaki said earlier about Kageyama being ‘big on team spirit and camaraderie,’ not to mention that Vice-Captain Ryuzaki seemed to think highly of him.

“You didn’t get along? Can you elaborate on that? The two of you play the same position. Was there a rivalry between the two of you?”

Kageyama’s already scowling face (it was just his resting face, Manager Sasaki assured) looked even more annoyed. “Oikawa has a terrible personality.”

 _Oh. I guess I just stepped on my first land mine._ “O-kaay… uhm, let’s talk about your experience in Kitaiichi.” Fujiwara scrambled to change the subject. “That’s when you really started getting noticed, right? It was during this time that you earned your nickname as the ‘King of the Court,’ correct?”

Kageyama’s gaze was, once again, on Tsukishima. He didn’t even bother to be subtle about it this time.

Beside Fujiwara, Tsukishima visibly tensed.

Going into this interview, there were four pressing questions that Fujiwara was hoping to get answers to from Kageyama. One, how and why did he get started with volleyball? Two, how did he feel after that game in middle school when his team ignored him and got him taken off the game? Three, how did his experience in Karasuno contributed to his growth as a player? And four, why did he suddenly stop playing volleyball after high school and why did he return to it now?

Interviews didn’t always go according to plan, but even if things did go off-tangent, if Fujiwara was able to get answers to those four questions, then he would consider this interview a success. However, seeing how Kageyama and Tsukishima were acting around one another really piqued his curiosity and he soon found himself with a fifth question: what the hell happened in high school between Kageyama and Tsukishima?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a short chapter where we get nothing but more questions. feel free to throw metaphorical bricks at me.
> 
> next chapter is going to be a bit longer, though. and Yamaguchi makes an appearance! so maybe throw bricks at me but just small ones.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i might not be able to update in the next few weeks. hopefully, yamaguchi's appearance slightly makes up for it.

Tsukishima had high expectations from Fujiwara, but as the interview with Kageyama went on, he was beginning to think that Fujiwara was actually an idiot. The man was continuously making an ass of himself in front of Kageyama by prodding at topics that Kageyama didn’t want to talk about. Oikawa Tooru. The ‘King of the Court’ nickname. The disastrous game that ended Kageyama’s middle school volleyball career. Can of worms, all of them. Unless Fujiwara was planning to deliberately anger Kageyama and thereby ruin the interview, talking about these things should be avoided at all costs. At the rate Fujiwara’s questions were going, Tsukishima was convinced that Kageyama was going to walk out of the interview soon.

“Sorry to interrupt, Fujiwara, but as much as I’d like to listen to this, I should really get started taking pictures.” Tsukishima reasoned that if Kageyama was going to walk out of the interview anyway, he should at least get pictures for their magazine before it happened. “It’s more efficient that way, seeing as I’m not making any real contribution to your conversation here.”

Fujiwara waved his left hand in Tsukishima’s general direction. “Go ahead.”

Tsukishima stood up and went over to one side of the court, far enough so he wouldn’t get distracted by Fujiwara and Kageyama’s conversation. He started walking around, trying to find a good angle on Kageyama.

When Kageyama entered the Falcon gym earlier, Tsukishima’s first thought upon seeing his former teammate’s face again was, _‘Wow, he didn’t change at all.’_ Peering through his camera and focusing on Kageyama’s face now, however, Tsukishima realized he had been wrong.

Tsukishima took a tentative close-up shot of Kageyama and studied the image on display. Puberty did Kageyama a ton of good. The round face from his youth was no longer to be found. In its place were more angular features that made his familiar scowling face look strangely appealing, in an ‘I’m cold and mysterious’ kind of way.

While teenaged Kageyama had looked awkward and out of place with his furrowed brows and mouth perpetually set in a grim line, this adult Kageyama took the same facial expression and made it (dare Tsukishima say it?) attractive. Tsukishima was loath to admit but having Kageyama’s mug plastered on the cover of their magazine would likely increase their sales among female readers – even the ones who hadn’t necessarily heard of Kageyama before.

Tsukishima took several more photos of Kageyama from various vantage points. He was totally absorbed in what he was doing that he didn’t notice he had moved closer to where Kageyama and Fujiwara were seated, and his intense concentration was broken when his ears caught Kageyama and Fujiwara’s conversation.

“…loves volleyball as much as you do, it’s almost unthinkable that you wouldn’t play for five years,” Fujiwara said. “You stopped playing after high school. Why? What happened then?”

Tsukishima flinched. He wasn’t holding onto any delusion that Fujiwara would somehow neglect to do research and fail to ask this question, but hearing it actually being asked was jarring nonetheless. His eyes snapped to Kageyama, who, it turned out, was also looking at him.

They locked stares for all of three seconds before Kageyama broke away.

Kageyama turned his attention back to Fujiwara, looking straight at him. “I hurt my knee after my last game in high school. I needed time to recover.”

“Five years to recover? That’s a long time.”

“The doctors didn’t want to take chances.”

Tsukishima stood there with bated breath. Kageyama had been very vague with his answers so far, but anytime now, Fujiwara would ask that all important question. How was Kageyama going to answer?

“Seems like this was a major injury. Do you mind if I ask what it was? How did you get it?”

Once again, Kageyama’s eyes were on Tsukishima. Fujiwara didn’t fail to notice it this time and quickly followed suit. Tsukishima could already see the uncomfortable injury-related conversation Fujiwara was bound to subject him to in the immediate future.

Kageyama stood up from his seat. “Doesn’t matter. It’s completely healed and I’m playing again now.” He made a show of inspecting his watch. “We should continue this tomorrow. I’d really like to get in some training today.”

Fujiwara got the message well enough. “Uh, yeah. We still have interviews scheduled with the team tomorrow, anyway.”

“Okay. You can, uh, just keep in touch with Sato. Or Manager Sasaki.”

“We will.” Fujiwara bowed. “Thank you for your time today.”

Kageyama returned the bow and then beat a hasty retreat. If Fujiwara saw him take a cursory glance and give a quick nod to Tsukishima before leaving, the reporter didn’t say anything. Tsukishima would like to keep it that way.

#

They had been driving for approximately 10 minutes before Fujiwara finally let the other shoe drop. Tsukishima had been hoping it would take longer than that (and he thought Fujiwara was a laidback guy).

“What was going on back there?” Fujiwara asked.

Tsukishima kept his eyes trained on the road outside. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t think I noticed? You and Kageyama were being weird.”

“You’re talking nonsense.”

“At first, I thought you guys used to date and broke up on bad terms–”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“–but now I’m pretty sure it has something to do with his injury.”

“Now that’s just stup–Ow!” Tsukishima hit his head on the window as Fujiwara took a sharp turn.

“Come on, Tsukishima. There’s a story there and you’re working together to hide it. You guys aren’t being subtle at all. He was staring at you the whole time I was talking about his injury.”

Tsukishima turned to glare at Fujiwara. “I'm not working with Kageyama to hide anything.”

“That’s not convincing at all, but okay. If that’s true, tell me about the injury.”

As if Tsukishima’s going to fall for that. “That information is irrelevant to your story.”

“Oh, I have a feeling it is and when that happens I simply can’t stand having information withheld from me.”

“Most people would call that being nosy.”

Fujiwara gave Tsukishima a childish grin that, strangely, didn’t look out of place on his thirty-something year old face. “Why do you think I work in this field?”

“There’s a thin line between professional curiosity and invasion of privacy.” Tsukishima held an acceptable amount of grudging respect for Fujiwara, but really, this line of questioning was getting on his nerves. “You should be especially careful about that with Kageyama. He doesn’t appreciate his life being pried into.”

Fujiwara pulled over to the side of the road and then turned to Tsukishima with a questioning look. “This is the first time I’m working closely with you but from what I heard from people you’ve worked with in the past, you’re an _asshole_. Why are you suddenly the paragon of ethics and virtue when it comes to Kageyama when it seems to me like you can’t even stand to be in the same room as him?”

Alright. That was it. Tsukishima tried to be nice.

“Look here, Fujiwara. Just because your personal life is a mess – yes, I know you’re wife cheated on you with a baseball announcer, you know news travels fast in this industry – that doesn’t mean you get free pass to poke your nose into everyone else’s business. If Kageyama decides to tell you about how he got that injury of his, good for you. Congratulations. But if I were you, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting. He’s not going to tell you any time soon.” Tsukishima got off Fujiwara’s car. “I’m taking the train. Have a good day.”

#

The moment he got back to his apartment, Tsukishima stepped into the bathroom to cool his head with a long shower. He was in the middle of drying his hair off with a towel when his phone started ringing with a call from Yamaguchi.

The statements ‘having a beer’ and ‘catching up with an old friend you barely have time to see anymore’ were casually thrown at him and Tsukishima found himself agreeing to meet Yamaguchi for a drink. He had to work the next day but considering the events of that afternoon, he figured the _universe_ owed him a drink.

Yamaguchi, bless his heart, chose to meet at a low-key bar that was quiet and empty enough to suit Tsukishima, who wasn’t in the mood for loud noises.

“I’m surprised you called me out for a drink on such short notice,” Tsukishima said by way of greeting when he spotted Yamaguchi sitting in one of the booths. Yamaguchi was facing away from him but Tsukishima could easily recognize that eye-sore of a hair antenna in a crowd.

“Good evening, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi said with a smile – that quickly turned into a frown when he saw Tsukishima’s face. “Wow, I know I invited you out for a drink but I didn’t realize you actually _needed_ one. Bad day?”

Tsukishima was surprised with Yamaguchi’s remark; he usually had a good poker face. He took the seat opposite Yamaguchi and feigned nonchalance. “You’re imagining things.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Nothing’s wrong. I’m perfectly fine.” Tsukishima said in a tone that clearly signaled the end to that line of questioning. He waived a waiter over. “The first round’s on me.”

#  

As they waited for their orders to arrive, Yamaguchi seemed to grow increasingly concerned about Tsukishima’s mood, and by the time their orders were served, he was no longer able to keep it in.

“Sorry, Tsukki, I know you said it’s nothing,” Yamaguchi sounded both cautious and concerned, “but we’ve known each other since we were kids and you must be really upset for it to be this obvious.”

Childhood friends are dangerous, Tsukishima knew that for a fact now. For a brief moment, he suddenly missed the time when Yamaguchi was too scared of him to even speak.

Tsukishima considered his options: a) He could be a jerk and tell Yamaguchi to mind his own business, but what would that get him? A very upset ~~best~~ friend, and somehow, the news would reach his brother and his mom (it always did) and both of them would take turns guilt-tripping him for being an asshole to the only friend who stuck with him through thick and thin. Definitely not worth the trouble; b) He could lie and come up with some made-up story, but since he had already established that after more than two decades of knowing one another, it was almost impossible for him to lie to Yamaguchi, this had every potential to backfire; or c) He could come clean and tell Yamaguchi the truth, but that would only make Yamaguchi even more eager to talk about _everything_ – including the whole sordid affair involving Kageyama’s injury, which kind of disregarded the great effort Tsukishima took for the past six years to _not_ talk about it.

There was no good option save for the earth opening up and swallowing him whole.

“Tsukki,” Yamaguchi said when the silence stretched longer than what was comfortable, “is this about the interview with Kageyama?”

Yeah, that ‘earth swallowing him whole’ option was looking more and more appealing for Tsukishima. “How did you know about that?”

“Kageyama told Hinata, and then Hinata told me.”

“Right. Of course. Why am I not surprised?”

“I know. You’re upset that I found out from Hinata, but how else am I supposed to know? You never tell me anything.”

“I didn’t think it concerned you.”

Yamaguchi furrowed his eyebrows. “Of course, it does. We’re talking about you reaching out to our teammates again here.”

Tsukishima looked at Yamaguchi pointedly. “Don’t start.”

“Even if you don’t say it, I know you blame yourself for what happened and you’re isolating yourself from everyone as your own misguided idea of a punishment.” Yamaguchi looked down at his drink and absentmindedly stirred the straw. “You know, I was actually very glad when I learned that you reached out to Kageyama after all these years. I thought you finally got over your issues.”

“I do _not_ have issues, and I only called him because of work. It was either that or lose my job. I’m a professional. I’m not actually a child.” Tsukishima took a long swig from his drink. Damn, that burned. “I'm done talking about this.”

Yamaguchi was having none of it. “If you could manage to meet _and_ talk to Kageyama, then you could manage to forg–”

Tsukishima brought his glass down on the table with a resounding thump. “Drop it, Yamaguchi.”

There was a brief standoff where Yamaguchi attempted to hold his ground.

Tsukishima won this time.

“Fine, Tsukki. But just so you know, I think you’re being stupid.”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

What the hell did Yamaguchi know, anyway?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor fujiwara. that was totally uncalled for tsukki.
> 
> on another note, yay (??) we finally have a bit more information about what happened to kageyama.
> 
> (also, pls shout at me when i'm making the characters ooc. this is a constant worry of mine.)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning: We're about to dip our toes into a bit (??) of melodrama in the next few chapters. (Yes, I went there. I regret nothing.)

The second (and hopefully last) interview sessions with the Falcons were to be held individually in each player’s home. Fujiwara justified the decision by saying he wanted the profile stories to have a bit of a personal touch, and what better place to get a feel of the players’ personal lives than their homes?

Tsukishima was convinced that this was all just an elaborate ploy engineered by Fujiwara to sniff out the true story about Kageyama’s injury. He had hoped that the players would see it as an outright invasion of their privacy and refuse but, unfortunately, almost all of the players agreed.

Kageyama was the only one who wasn’t up for it but with the rest of the Falcons agreeing, he was left with no choice but to do the same. To make things worse, Fujiwara had the bright idea to conduct the second session of interviews in the reverse order of the first one – which meant that Kageyama’s interview now came first.

It was an elaborate ploy, for sure.

Tsukishima sat alone in Kageyama’s living room. He only learned that morning that Fujiwara was running late, giving him a half-assed excuse about dropping a son off at daycare. Tsukishima had a strong feeling it was a lie; as far as he knew, Fujiwara had a twelve year old daughter and no son of daycare age. It was very likely that Fujiwara did this as payback for yesterday.

Kageyama had opened the door for Tsukishima with his hair dripping wet and a towel still hanging from his naked shoulders. If he was surprised that Tsukishima had come alone, he didn’t make note of it and simply told Tsukishima to hang around the living room while he dried his hair off. Apparently, he went running that morning and just came out of the shower when Tsukishima arrived.

Tsukishima had conflicted feelings about seeing a half-naked Kageyama with dripping wet hair but that was a thought he didn’t want to think about now – or maybe ever.

Kageyama lived in a simple one bedroom apartment not far from the Falcons’ training complex. The place had very sparse decoration and looked like Kageyama only used it for sleeping, which didn’t surprise Tsukishima at all considering that the Falcons’ training facility had just about every necessity their players could possibly require. Tsukishima also had a feeling that this adult, professional athlete Kageyama was the type to spend all of his waking hours on training.

“You want anything to drink? Coffee, juice? Water?” Kageyama said when he got back, hair now passably dry.

It took Tsukishima about two seconds to realize that Kageyama was talking to him. “Uh, coffee’s fine.”

“Okay. Wait a second.”

Kageyama disappeared off to where Tsukishima guessed the kitchen would be, leaving the latter alone to contemplate this sad, sorry state of affairs, wondering what he ever did wrong in a previous life to deserve having Kageyama – and, consequently, the _past_ – forced into his life again.

After Kageyama was injured six years ago, Tsukishima cut off his communication with all of his former teammates, except for Yamaguchi, and ran off to Tokyo. People could say all they want about him being an asshole and he would wholeheartedly agree, but even he was not thick-faced enough to stay in Miyagi and face his former teammates like nothing happened after they found out what Kageyama’s injury entailed.

 

_“Let me go, senpai!” Hinata struggled in Asahi’s grasp, desperately trying to reach Tsukishima and land another hit._

_Yamaguchi was at Tsukishima’s side, face etched with worry. “You alright, Tsukki?”_

_Tsukishima touched his lip and his hand came off with blood. Oh. Hinata busted his lip. For a small guy, Hinata packed quite the punch. Who knew? It was probably because Hinata was very angry. Tsukishima should probably be angry too. He just got punched, after all. He couldn’t bring himself to get mad for it, though. Partly because he was mostly numb at this point. Partly because he knew he deserved it._

_“I’m fine, Yamaguchi. It’s just a scratch.”_

_“Just a scratch, huh?!” Tanaka yelled at Tsukishima. He was being held off in one corner by Sawamura. He and Hinata had dived for Tsukishima at the same time but Sawamura caught Tanaka faster than Asahi did for Hinata._

_Tsukishima would be nursing far worse than a busted lip if Tanaka had gotten to him. How unfortunate. Maybe if he got more than just a busted lip he would actually feel better. Physical pain was far more preferable than the cold, numb feeling coursing through him right now._

_“You should be thanking your lucky stars that’s all you fucking got!” Tanaka was still shouting from his corner. He was trying to struggle free with much more force now and Ennoshita had to come over to help Sawamura keep him in place. “You’re the reason why Kageyama’s like this!”_

_“That’s enough, Tanaka. None of this is Tsukishima’s fault.” Tsukishima heard Sawamura say._

_Tsukishima laughed at that. He hadn’t been meaning to but he couldn’t help himself. It was amusing. Sawamura had no idea how true Tanaka’s words were._

_A tear escaped Tsukishima’s eye. He was laughing too hard._

_“The hell are you laughing for?” Nishinoya asked. He wasn’t shouting but he wasn’t calm either. Tsukishima was actually surprised when Nishinoya didn’t join in earlier when Tanaka and Hinata lunged for an attack. “You think this is funny, huh?” Nishinoya’s voice was rising now. A bit more and he would probably swing at Tsukishima too. Tsukishima wondered if Nishinoya punched just as hard (or harder?) than Hinata. They were practically the same size._

_“Tsukki…” Yamaguchi’s tone held a warning. Something along the lines of, ‘Tsukki, I don’t think you should be laughing.’_

_Yamaguchi had a point. This was neither the time nor place to be having the laughing fit of his life. Kageyama had been too badly injured. The thing with metal pipes hitting knees at full force was that they, more often than not, do irreparable damage. The doctor had just informed them that Kageyama might not recover full use of his knees, let alone play volleyball, ever again. And yet here was Tsukishima, the reason for Kageyama’s injury, getting away with a few bruises and nary a scratch, save for the busted lip courtesy of Hinata._

_Scratch that,_ this _was the time and place for Tsukishima to be having the laughing fit of his life because this was the biggest joke he had ever come across. His former team mates just didn’t get it._

_It was all Tsukishima’s fault and Kageyama, of all people, was going to pay the price._

_What a fucking joke._

 

“Hey, are you alright?” Kageyama said, wrestling Tsukishima away from his memories.

“Huh?” Was Tsukishima’s incoherent reply. Kageyama was sitting on the chair opposite him. _When did he get here?_

“I said, ‘here’s your coffee,’ and you didn’t answer.” Kageyama looked at Tsukishima quizzically. “You were zoning out back there.”

“Hangover.” Tsukishima said as explanation. It wasn’t exactly a lie. He _had_ been drinking the night before and Kageyama didn’t need to know that he didn’t really get hangovers (something Yamaguchi always envied him for).

A flash of recognition appeared on Kageyama’s face. “Oh, right. You were out drinking with Yamaguchi last night.”

_What?_ “How do you even know that?”

“Yamaguchi told me.”

Great. So everyone Tsukishima knew kept tabs on one another and he was the only one out of the loop. He made a mental note to have words with Yamaguchi about sharing too much information with Kageyama. “Right. Whatever.” He said, sounding a little more irritated than he intended.

Kageyama crossed his arms across his chest. Quick on the defensive. “Hey, I’m allowed to talk to Yamaguchi. He used to be my team mate too and–”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“–just because you cut yourself off from everyone, doesn’t mean…” Kageyama’s voice trailed off when he appeared to have realized what he was saying. “Shit. Sorry. But, uhm, about that, I think we should talk.”

“No, we don’t.”

Kageyama took a deep breath, as though he was preparing to say something he practiced saying before. “It wasn’t your fault, and if you think it was then I’ve forgiven you all the same.”

At that, Tsukishima had to laugh. “You’ve forgiven me? I never apologized.”

“I know you felt bad about it. Yamaguchi said–”

“Screw Yamaguchi and what he said with his big mouth.”

Kageyama frowned at Tsukishima, as if to say, ‘that’s not a nice thing to say about your friend.’ “I don’t understand you. I know you feel bad for what happened even if Yamaguchi didn’t say anything. I’m telling you that I forgive you but you refuse to accept it. What do you want?”

What Tsukishima wanted was for everyone to leave him alone. He was tired. He was tired of everyone trying to make him feel better about what happened when he was content just letting the feelings of guilt and self-loathing wash over him like a heavy but strangely comforting blanket. “I don’t want your forgiveness.” _I don’t deserve it_ , he didn’t add.

Kageyama let his head hang back with a very frustrated sigh. “This is useless,” he said to the ceiling, “I’m trying to fix things but I don’t know what to do with you – and I’m already awful at these things to start with.”

“Don’t hurt your head thinking it over. There’s nothing to fix. Everything is just how it should be.”

Kageyama’s head snapped right back up at that. “Really? Is that what you tell yourself? Because I can name a lot of things that are wrong right off the top of my head.” His eyes were now trained on Tsukishima, blazing with a deep-seated anger. “You ran away to Tokyo and you cut yourself off from everyone back home. You even missed your own brother’s wedding because you knew our teammates were going to be there! Tell me, when was the last time you went home to Miyagi? How many years has it been since you last saw your mom?”

Tsukishima shot up from the sofa and grabbed Kageyama by the collar, hauling the latter up from his chair. “Fuck you. You have no right to talk about my family.”

Kageyama smirked at him and Tsukishima was reminded of the first time they met. It was almost the same scenario, except this time their positions were reversed. Tsukishima was the one losing his cool now and Kageyama was the smug bastard enjoying the unraveling composure of his opponent.

“I struck a chord, didn’t I?” Kageyama’s eyes were burning with challenge, daring Tsukishima to say otherwise when they both knew what he said was true.

Tsukishima grit his teeth. He found that he had nothing to say to that. He let go of his hold on Kageyama and shoved the other back onto the chair for good measure. “I can’t do this with you.” He turned on his heel and walked out of Kageyama’s apartment, the door closing behind him with a loud thud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think happened six years ago?
> 
> (P.S. Please tell me if you notice any errors or typos I may have missed because at this point, I've read this thing so many times sometimes the words no longer make sense to me.)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning to post this until next week but I've seen the comments in the previous chapter and someone made some really good guesses about what happened in the past and I was so ecstatic about that so I figured, what the heck, let's post this now.

Here was a story that not everyone knew.

It all started after Karasuno won a challenging quarter finals match against a particularly problematic team – one that had a nasty streak that could give Tsukishima a run for his money. During the match, Karasuno was subjected to insults, taunts, and other questionable tactics when the referees weren’t looking, but in the end, Karasuno’s skill prevailed and they won the match without having to resort to similarly dirty tactics like their opponents.

It would’ve ended at that, probably, but Tsukishima (immature teenager that he was) decided to rub the win into their opponents’ faces with a well-placed sarcastic remark that, Tsukishima and Kageyama would later find out, their opponents did not take lightly.

Sawamura had always warned Tsukishima that one day, his tendency to be an unapologetic little jerk will come back to bite him in the ass. Tsukishima never did listen.

Tsukishima had been on his way home from Karasuno’s finals match the following week when he was intercepted by a group of guys who said they were there to give him Maki’s regards. Tsukishima was just about to ask them who in the world Maki was but lost the chance when two of the guys grabbed him and forcibly dragged him into a dark alley.

Once in the alley, Tsukishima realized that – surprise – there were more of them and some of them were brandishing bats and metal pipes and whatnot. Tsukishima may not remember who this Maki character was but he wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly what was about to go down and he was definitely on the losing end.

(‘Hey, it’s your own fault. Maki didn’t like your little ‘congratulatory message’ after your match. If you’re blaming anyone, blame yourself,’ Tsukishima clearly remembered one of the guys saying.)

It was bad enough that Tsukishima had gotten himself into some really deep trouble, but unfortunately for him, the universe seemed to enjoy making his life even more miserable than it already was so, by some cruel chance, Kageyama also passed by said alley at that moment and saw his teammate about to get beaten up.

Kageyama (stupid teenager that he was) didn’t think twice about barging into the scene, something that had always bothered Tsukishima. If only Kageyama didn’t notice. If only Kageyama knew better than to get himself involved. But Kageyama was a Grade A Idiot who didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut and, in the end, he annoyed the thugs so much they ended up focusing more of their unwelcome attention on him.

(Later on, Tsukishima would briefly entertain the thought that maybe Kageyama annoyed the thugs on purpose to distract them from focusing too much on him – their actual target. He would also quickly drop the idea for being too ridiculous. Surely, Kageyama wouldn’t go that far just to protect him.)

Truthfully, Tsukishima didn’t really have a clear recollection of everything that happened after Kageyama appeared that night. Maybe it was his brain trying to block unpleasant memories from resurfacing, but if that were the case, then his brain was doing a terrible job because Tsukishima had at least one deep-seated memory from that night and it was the most unpleasant of them all – a disgustingly vivid image of a pipe hitting Kageyama in the knee.

Tsukishima never told anyone but he had nightmares every night, the first few months after that incident. The other details were a bit blurry and changed constantly but the climax of the nightmare never changed. They always ended the same way – the sound of the metal pipe hitting Kageyama’s kneecap, followed by a scream of pain.

If Tsukishima was lucky, the nightmares would get him jolting out of bed, covered in sweat and panting like he just ran a marathon. If he was unlucky, he would wake up scrambling for the bathroom with bile in his throat. If he was very unlucky, he wouldn’t even make it to the bathroom and, instead, just throw up in his bed.

Tsukishima had been very unlucky most of the time.

#

Kuroo reached out from across the table to slide Tsukishima’s glass away. “Okay, Tsukki, I think you’ve had enough.”

Tsukishima made a grab for the glass but Kuroo was faster in moving it out of his reach. “I did not invite you here so you can babysit me. Give me that.”

Going out for drinks two work nights in a row was a little too irresponsible for Tsukishima’s tastes but he was past caring at this point. His life had been ridiculous ever since he got the assignment from hell so screw responsibility, Tsukishima Kei would drink when he wanted to, as much as he wanted to.

“Well, I didn’t come here so I can watch you get absolutely wrecked. Are you trying to destroy your liver? Come on, what’s really the problem here? You never call me out for drinks unless you need my sagely advice so stop drinking and start talking.”

Tsukishima scoffed. “I don’t need your _sagely_ advice. I just needed to drink and didn’t want to be that loser who drinks alone.”

“That’s exactly what you said last time this happened. Down to the last letter.” Kuroo gave Tsukishima an indulgent smile. “Okay, so let’s say you don’t need my advice. I’m giving it anyway.” Kuroo cleared his throat. “You need to stop beating yourself up over what happened six years ago. None of that was your fault.”

 _Not this again._ “Why are you suddenly bringing that up? That has nothing to do with why I’m drinking.”

Kuroo looked at Tsukishima as if to say, _‘Who do you think you’re talking to?’_

“Oh god,” Tsukishima rolled his eyes at Kuroo, “Really? Do I really have to take this from you too?”

One look at the predatory smile that appeared on Kuroo’s face and Tsukishima realized he had said the wrong thing.

“ _Too?_ Who else has been talking to you about this, Tsukki?” Kuroo said, “And don’t say Yamaguchi because I know for a fact that he raises this subject with you on an almost regular basis that it hardly calls for this kind of impromptu binge-drinking session.”

Tsukishima looked at Kuroo crossly. “You already know so why make me say it?”

“Oh, Tsukki,” Kuroo raised his right hand to his chest, “you know as someone who is like an older brother to you, I have made it my personal mission to help you open up and acknowledge your emotions.”

“Fuck you.”

Kuroo laughed out loud at that. The bastard. “Oh god, it’s so fun messing with you,” he said when he calmed down, “seriously, though, it’s still that bad, huh?”

The predatory look was gone from Kuroo’s face now, and in its place was– “Don’t look at me like that,” Tsukishima said.

“Like what?” Kuroo looked genuinely confused.

“Like I’m a lost child who has no idea what he’s doing.”

Kuroo looked deep in thought. “So… you’re saying that you know what you’re doing?” He said after a pause.

“I didn’t for a while,” Tsukishima answered truthfully, “but I know what I’m going to do from this point on.”

“You do, huh?”

“Yes. Obviously, I need to distance myself from all of this.” Tsukishima said matter-of-factly. There was no other solution. His life had been peaceful for the past several years and the only reason he was miserable now was because he made the mistake of getting too close again. That was a mistake he was going to fix soon.

“Hm, I see,” was all that Kuroo said. He was giving Tsukishima that look again.

Tsukishima pretended not to notice. After all, he was doing the right thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be quite long so please bear with me. :P
> 
> First off, I was beyond happy when I saw that someone in the comments had guessed right!! This story isn't a Mystery by any means but I did try to incorporate some elements of that genre where the reader has to figure out what happened based on little hints dropped in the story. I did this, initially, less as a creative choice and more like a personal writing exercise, if that makes sense? I wanted to see if I'm able to write in that way without getting the reader all confused so I was over the moon when someone figured it out!! :D
> 
> Second, to be honest, this was the part that I really struggled with. Not this chapter per se but the whole 'how did Kageyama get his injury?' part of this story. Kageyama getting injured in high school had always been a fixed part but the 'how?' of it was something that went through so many changes. It will probably never see the light of day but somewhere in the dark corners of my laptop lies a much more depressing version of the 'how did Kageyama get injured?' story that would have taken this entire fic in an entirely different direction had I gone through with it.
> 
> Anyway, now we know what happened six years ago. What do you guys think, especially about how Tsukishima's been acting? Is it justified or is he being overly dramatic? As the person who wrote this, I really can't say so much about what *I* think for fear of spilling spoilers but I really love it when you share your thoughts. :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still kinda busy irl but i'm sneaking this in now because it's a pretty short chapter anyway

Veteran sports writer Fujiwara Daisuke liked to think of himself as a nice guy. Sure, he was a bit on the nosy side and could get annoying real fast, but the things Tsukishima said to him about his personal life and the jabs about his ex-wife were way below the belt – even if he maybe did strike a nerve by constantly asking about Kageyama’s injury.

On top of it all, that bastard Tsukishima hadn’t even bothered to show up for the second day of the Falcon interviews. Okay, maybe Fujiwara did plan to arrive late for Kageyama’s second interview so he could have the satisfaction of knowing that Tsukishima would be left alone with the volleyball player, but imagine his surprise when he arrived, only to find out that Tsukishima wasn’t there.

They hadn’t even been working together for very long and, already, Tsukishima had committed two strikes against him. Fujiwara didn’t know Tsukishima well prior to their joint assignment but based on what he had seen and experienced, he was inclined to believe what everyone else had told him about the guy. Tsukishima Kei was not the nicest of people – and this observation gained even more credence as the day went on.

“Damn, Tsukishima is on a roll. That’s the third one today,” one of the junior writers said as yet another intern ran out of the office crying after talking to Tsukishima.

“I thought he only makes one intern cry per month,” said another writer, “I wonder what set him off? The last time he got this vicious was after that interview with the setter from Osaka Blazers.”

“I still have nightmares about that. Please don’t remind me.”

“Yeah, that was terrible wasn’t it? I remember I saw an entire batch of interns cry after Tsukishima was done with them.”

Fujiwara took a deep breath and made a decision. He was still very much irked over what Tsukishima did but he decided that he had to make amends. Not that he was accepting that he was the one at fault, but he was willing to take one for the team, if only to keep the peace at the office. Fujiwara, being the nice guy that he was, would be the bigger man here and take the initiative.

#

Fujiwara finally approached Tsukishima during lunch break.

“Hey, Tsukishima.”

Tsukishima was sitting on a bench outside, in the same spot where Fujiwara first asked him about Kageyama. “What do you want, Fujiwara?” He said to Fujiwara’s shoes.

“We need to talk.”

Tsukishima looked up at Fujiwara with a smile that was anything but friendly. “I don’t have anything to say to you so, how about no?”

“You’re scaring the interns.” Fujiwara made use of his best ‘Dad Voice,’ the one that compelled even his tween daughter to reflect very deeply on her actions.

‘Dad Voice,’ unfortunately, did not work on Tsukishima.

“If I’m able to scare them, they have no business working here. I’d love to see how they deal with the chief.”

“Hey, I don’t know what your problem is but if anyone should be in a bad mood here, it’s me. You were a no-show yesterday at the interviews and, the day before that, you said some real nasty things to me.”

“Who said I’m in a bad mood? Also, need I remind you that you called me an ‘asshole’ first?”

_Deep breaths, Fujiwara Daisuke. Don’t let it get to you. Deeeep breaths._

“Yes – yes, I did, and I’m really sorry for that. That’s why I’m trying to make amends. Come on, work with me here.”

“There are no ‘amends’ to be made. I’m good.”

“You’ve made three interns cry today,” Fujiwara said point-blank, “and it’s only 12:30.” He sat down on the bench and leaned into Tsukishima conspiratorially. “Do you know the guys in the office are dubbing this The Return of Vicious Tsukishima?”

Tsukishima had the nerve to look impressed. “Huh. That’s actually pretty funny.”

“That’s not the point, man.” Fujiwara pinched the bridge of his nose. “Is this about Kageyama’s injury? I mean, if it’s such a sensitive subject that neither of you are willing to talk about it, I’ll let it drop. I’m not actually evil. I have standards.”

Tsukishima didn’t respond.

“I swear, I’ll drop it. I’m dropping it now.”

Tsukishima stood up from the bench, hands in his pockets. “I’m getting reassigned.”

“What?”

“I was only given this assignment because Chief needed someone to convince Kageyama to agree to an interview. I’ve accomplished that job so, I’m done. Kurokawa is going to replace me as your photographer.”

“Wait – why?”

“Didn’t you say it yourself, Fujiwara? I can’t stand to be in the same room as Kageyama. This is for the best, trust me.” Tsukishima gave Fujiwara another smile before walking back into the building.

If Fujiwara didn’t know how much of an insensitive jerk Tsukishima could be, he would’ve thought that the smile looked kind of… well, sad.

#

Veteran sports writer Fujiwara Daisuke did not get paid nearly enough to deal with this – and by ‘this’ he meant the grown-ass professional athlete sulking in a corner because the magazine interviewing him decided to change photographers.

Kageyama had refused to participate and have any more of his pictures taken when he found out that Kurokawa (and not Tsukishima) was going to be the photographer from then on. He even went so far as to say that, surely, they had enough pictures and information from him now, how much more did they need?

“I’m really very sorry,” Sato apologized to Fujiwara for the nth time (Fujiwara lost count) as he was preparing to leave, “As you already know, the only reason Kageyama agreed to this interview was because of Tsukishima. I’ll try and talk to him again but for now, I beg your indulgence.”

“I understand. I know Tsukishima’s reassignment was rather abrupt.” _Too abrupt that even I, his partner, didn’t know about it._

Out of the corner of his eye, Fujiwara saw Kageyama walk over to where he and Sato where standing.

“Where is Tsukishima?” Kageyama asked.

Fujiwara resisted the urge to sigh. “Like I said earlier, he got reassigned.”

“I understood that the first time. I’m asking where he is right now. At this very moment.”

“Right now?” Fujiwara checked the time on his watch. They finished late today and it was already quarter past eleven. Even if Tsukishima had to stay late in the office for some reason, he wouldn’t have stayed this late. “He’s most likely at home by now.”

“Where does he live?”

Fujiwara wasn’t sure what he was expecting Kageyama to say but it certainly wasn’t that. He figured Sato shared this sentiment because the agent was currently staring at Kageyama in disbelief. “I don’t actually know. We’re not – that topic hasn’t come up in any of our conversations.”

Kageyama looked dejected. “Is that so… well uh, thanks anyway. Sorry to bother you.” He said more to the floor than anything else.

Kageyama didn’t wait for Fujiwara to respond and left without another word. Sato (who looked quite startled at Kageyama’s actions) immediately followed, leaving Fujiwara alone to process what just happened. Fujiwara didn’t really understand what the deal was between Kageyama and Tsukishima and at this point, he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to understand. There was one thing he knew for sure, though – he couldn’t wait for this assignment to be over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp kageyama's on the move
> 
> (also, the author likes veteran sports writer fujiwara daisuke a little more than they should *nervous laugh*)


	10. Chapter 10

There were a lot of things that Kuroo Tetsurou never expected to wake up to and high up on that list was a phone call from one Oikawa Tooru, demanding in a shrill voice to know just what the hell was going on between him and Tobio-chan.

Kuroo glanced at the clock on top of his bedside table and groaned. “It’s two in the morning, Oikawa. Whatever the hell this is, can it not wait until the sun is actually up?”

“That’s the point!” Oikawa’s voice rose about an octave higher. “It’s two am and I have just gotten a call from Tobio-chan, asking me if I can give him your phone number! If Tobio-chan is going to disturb me at such an ungodly hour because of you then I sure as hell am going to disturb you too!”

Kuroo winced. “Will you keep your voice down, it’s hurting my brain.”

“I will not lower my voice until I get answers!” Another octave. “I demand to know what’s going on!”

“I don’t know what’s going on.” Kuroo lied. He had a fair idea what this was about but it was too fucking early to deal with it so first, he had to get Oikawa off his back. “I haven’t talked to Kageyama since… I don’t know. I can’t even remember the last time I talked to him.”

“Really.” Oikawa didn’t sound very convinced but he lowered his voice at least.

“Yes, but if Kageyama called you at this hour it must be very important. Anyway, I still have his number from when I got it from you so I’ll just call him. Later. At a more socially acceptable time.”

Oikawa seemed pacified enough by that. “Make sure you do. I would hate to receive another call from Tobio-chan at two in the morning.”

“Believe me, if you getting calls from Kageyama at two am means I’ll get calls from _you_ at two am, I’ll do everything in my power to stop it from happening again.”

“You wound me, Tetsu-chan. I thought you said you like hearing my voice.”

“Oh, I do.” Kuroo could imagine the smirk on Oikawa’s face as he said that. “Just not like this. And definitely not with Kageyama’s name involved.”

“Ooooh, someone’s jealous.”

“You know I’m not.” Kuroo’s arrangement with Oikawa did not leave room for stuff like that. “Go back to sleep, Oikawa. Don’t you have some sort of exhibition match tomorrow? Or should I say later since it’s already–wait a minute. You haven’t even slept, have you? Did you stay up all night again to analyze videos of the opposing team?”

“I invoke my right against self-incrimination.”

Kuroo sighed. He found this part of Oikawa both admirable and concerning. Although, he wasn’t really in the position to say anything about it. “Iwaizumi’s going to get mad if he finds out.”

“You’re not going to tell him.” It sounded more like a question and there was genuine worry in Oikawa’s voice.

“You’re right, I’m not going to. But _please_ , just go to sleep. I’ll deal with Kageyama.”

“Okay!” Oikawa practically chirped. “You’re really the best, Tetsu-chan. Good night!”

Oikawa didn’t wait for an answer and quickly hung up after that. Kuroo shook his head and smiled to himself. “But it’s already morning.”

#

Kuroo had to call about five times before Kageyama finally picked up. At that point, his patience was starting to wear thin. “Hey, Kageyama, it’s Kuroo,” he immediately said when he heard the ‘hello’ from the other line. “I heard from Oikawa that you’ve been asking for me. What’s up?”

“Ah, that.” Kageyama sounded short of breath. Kuroo figured the other must have been in the middle of training, hence his considerable delay in picking up the phone. “I called him earlier. He didn’t seem too happy about it – honestly, neither was I – but I’m kind of desperate. I uh – I need to ask you a favor.”

“Wow, you Karasuno guys only ever talk to me when you need something. Frankly, I’m hurt.”

“What? No, Kuroo, that’s not – I don’t – I’m sorry.”

Kageyama sounded panicked on the other line so Kuroo decided to end his misery. “Whoa, easy there, Kageyama. I was just kidding. I don’t mind really. What can I help you with?”

“Well… I need to talk to Tsukishima.”

Bingo. Why was Kuroo not surprised?

“Why don’t you just call him then?” Kuroo already knew the answer to that, he just asked because he was nothing if not difficult.

“It’s better if we talk in person.” Kageyama let out a strained laugh. “Anyway, he’s not going to answer even if I call.”

“Hm, you do have a point. This is Tsukishima we’re talking about.” Kuroo knew for a fact that Tsukishima had A+ evasive skills. If he wanted to avoid someone, he could do it for _years_. Kuroo had witnessed that firsthand. “This is where I come in, I guess? You want me to set up, what, a meeting between the two of you?”

“Yeah, but he’s not going to just agree to that, right? It’s probably better if he doesn’t know he’s meeting me. That’s why I thought of you. Tsukishima would immediately know something was up if I asked Yamaguchi.”

“You want me to lie to Tsukishima for you?” Kuroo was genuinely conflicted. He had been there when Tsukishima first came to Tokyo and he had seen how badly the latter had been affected by Kageyama’s injury. Talking things out with Kageyama _could_ help Tsukishima finally move on but it was also sure to reopen old wounds and, frankly, Kuroo would rather not subject Tsukishima to something like that.

Tsukishima was a lot more sensitive than he let on and Kuroo was torn between willingly becoming an accomplice for Kageyama’s intervention and protecting Tsukishima.

_Jeez, Kuroo Tetsurou, when did you turn into such a sap?_

“Why do you want to talk to him so badly?” If Kuroo was going to help with this, he needed to know what Kageyama’s intentions were. “Why would you go this far?” And this _was_ going too far for Kageyama. Heck, Kageyama even got freaking _Oikawa_ involved.

Kageyama must have been hesitant to answer that question because a few seconds passed before Kuroo finally got a response.

“I just want to tell him that I never blamed him for my injury and that he should stop feeling guilty. I’ve actually said something like that to him before but it just wouldn’t get past his thick skull and I even prepared what I was going to say beforehand but when he was actually right there it just – it didn’t go according to plan.” Kageyama spoke hurriedly, like he was afraid the words would get away from him if he slowed down for even a bit. “But I want to talk to him – properly, this time. I know he’s been acting even more like a dumbass by isolating himself ever since my injury and I just want to put end to that. I don’t want to be the reason he spends the rest of his life miserable and alone and I…” Kageyama trailed off, his sense of urgency from only a few seconds earlier seemingly forgotten. “I want…”

Kuroo remained silent. He had a feeling that, given enough time, Kageyama would eventually continue without being prompted.

Kageyama took a deep breath, as if to steel himself. “I want us to go back to how we were like before.”

He knew Kageyama couldn’t see it but Kuroo had to raise an eyebrow at that. “You do realize that ‘how you were like before’ is, essentially, the two of you fighting over everything like small children? That’s what you want to go back to?”

“Yes,” Kageyama said emphatically, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

It was probably rude, considering Kageyama had just finished spilling his heart out, but there was a certain kind of joy to be found when pieces finally clicked together and one finally understood just what the heck was going on with the people around them. There was just no helping it.

In the wake of Kageyama’s sincere monologue, Kuroo let out a hearty laugh.

_Tsukishima is going to kill me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not gonna lie, the first part of this chapter is pure self-indulgence ('this entire chapter is pure self-indulgence,' my brain needlessly adds) i high-key ship oikuroo and if i see a chance to sneak that pair in, you can bet your ass that i'll take it. no regrets.
> 
> (confession time: i've actually started working on an oikuroo wip set in this same universe a few weeks ago hahahaha (i got inspired by a mug and couldn't help it what is my life) but i'm restraining myself from working on that because i need to finish this first gdi)
> 
> also, pls don't come at me with torches and pitchforks. kageyama and tsukishima WILL finally talk - and I mean TALK - next chapter. goodness knows this unnecessary drama has dragged on for too long (even *I* am getting frustrated).


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't even know anymore

If he was being honest, Tsukishima had already felt that something wasn’t quite right the moment he got a message from Kuroo, asking him to meet at some coffee shop called Café Noir.

Aside from the pretentious name, Tsukishima had no real concerns about the coffee shop, really. In fact, he would go as a far as to say that he liked it. The place was nice. It was one of those hole-in-the-wall type of establishments that were quaint and cozy, with not that many people. If Tsukishima were to have a clandestine meeting where privacy was top priority, this coffee shop was definitely not a bad choice. This initially made Tsukishima nervous – he had worried the coffee would be awful if the only other customers in sight was an old couple sitting in one booth by the corner – but his fears were instantly quelled the moment he tasted his coffee. With coffee like this, Tsukishima would actually prefer that most of the city population remained ignorant of this well-hidden coffee haven.

As great as the coffee was though, this train of thought had brought Tsukishima’s attention back to the unsettling feeling that took hold of him when Kuroo first asked him to meet there.

Contrary to appearances, Kuroo was a steadfast creature of habit. He wasn’t very adventurous when it came to discovering new establishments to frequent. In the years that Tsukishima had lived in Tokyo and occasionally met up with the guy, they had always gone to the same handful of bars, restaurants, and coffee shops, to the point that the owners and employees of those places even knew their names now. The fact that Kuroo suddenly decided to break habit and chose to meet at a place that Tsukishima (along with the rest of the city, apparently) had not even heard of had been the first red flag.

The second red flag came in the form of Kuroo being late.

Kuroo could be an annoying little shit who provoked people for fun most of the time but that did not extend to arriving late to appointments. Kuroo was unfailingly responsible. The guy could not have been effective as the captain of a team like Nekoma if he weren’t – which was why Tsukishima’s unsettling feeling about this meeting grew even more when the clock struck nine and Kuroo was still nowhere to be seen.

Tsukishima wouldn’t call himself paranoid but having known Kuroo for a long time, these two very uncharacteristic things happening simultaneously were enough to make him suspicious.

There was something going on here.

#

“Excuse me, would you like a refill?”

Tsukishima looked away from the window and faced the coffee shop’s lone employee – a girl who didn’t look a day older than the typical college student – who was now standing beside his table, coffee pot in hand.

“It’s on the house,” the girl continued when Tsukishima didn’t immediately respond, “You uh, you look like you’re waiting for someone, and since they’re not here yet, how about another cup?”

It was more force of habit than anything but Tsukishima raised an eyebrow in suspicion. He couldn’t help it. This whole Kuroo affair already had him in a more suspicious state of mind than usual.

Of course, the girl then decided to interpret Tsukishima’s reaction in an entirely different manner. “ _Oh_.” The girl’s eyes widened in panic. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean anything by that! I just thought, you know…” The girl was frantic. “But I’m not saying you’re getting stood up! I bet whoever you’re waiting for will arrive soon! And I – I – oh my gosh, I should stop talking.”

“Yeah, you should do that.” Despite her horrible misunderstanding of the situation, Tsukishima was grudgingly amused by girl’s antics. At least it was able to get his mind off of his concerns over this meeting even for a bit. Tsukishima pushed his empty cup towards her. “I wouldn’t mind that refill, though.”

“Yes, yes, of course. I’m sorry again.” The girl kept on talking as she poured the coffee into Tsukishima’s cup. “It’s just, we don’t get a lot of new faces here and you’ve been here for almost an hour and you kept looking at your watch and I just thought… but I was jumping to conclusions, I know that now. That person might just be stuck in traffic or something, right? I mean, why would you get stood up? You look like a perfectly nice guy and for you to get stood up, why, the other person would have to be stupid, you know what I’m saying? I’m sure there’s a perfectly valid reason why that person isn’t here yet!”

 _You’re still jumping to a whole lot of conclusions right now_ , Tsukishima thought of pointing out. He internally debated correcting the girl’s assumptions but decided not to in the end. The girl might never stop talking if he did that. Instead, what Tsukishima ended up saying was, “Yeah, that guy’s never late.”

The girl beamed. “See! I guessed that! That person will probably be here any minute now! Maybe he’s just having a hard time finding this place. I keep telling the manager that we need a bigger sign outside but he doesn’t listen, says it goes against our ‘quaint little café’ aesthetic. Honestly, I don’t get it, but hey, I’m just an employee so, you know? The manager–”

 _No, I don’t know,_ Tsukishima really wanted to say, but at this point, it was probably better to just let the girl talk to her heart’s content since she seemed capable enough to hold a conversation without any participation from him. He could probably shoot her down once and for all but he had a feeling that doing so would only make things worse. If he hurt her _feelings_ she might end up talking non-stop about that and that was something Tsukishima didn’t want to have to sit through. _Maybe I could just tell her to shut up and then leave immediately. I’ve been waiting here long enough anyway._

“–makes the decisions around here. I just do what he says but really, I wish he’d listen some–” The girl’s chatter was interrupted by the ringing of the chimes on the shop’s door. “Oh! Oh, someone just arrived!”

Tsukishima couldn’t tell who it was since his back was facing the door and he didn’t really have any desire to turn around and look. Kuroo would recognize him from behind well enough.

“I think that’s your date.” The girl tried to whisper – key word being _try_. Tsukishima was pretty sure the other person heard her anyway and, oh boy, he would never live it down if it turned out that Kuroo was really the person who arrived and not another customer. “Oh, yup. Yup, that’s him. He’s looking at you. He’s _walking_ towards you. See? I told you, you wouldn’t get stood up!” The girl looked positively giddy. “And with that, I shall take my leave. Enjoy your date!”

The girl _finally_ left and Tsukishima briefly closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, allowing himself the few moments of peace before Kuroo would join his booth and, inevitably, cause even more disturbance than the girl could have ever been capable of.

Tsukishima heard the tell-tale rustling of someone occupying the seat in front of him and he spoke before he even opened his eyes. “You’re late.”

“I know. Sorry. I had to drop by the training complex real quick.” Said a voice that was definitely not Kuroo’s.

Tsukishima’s eyes shot open and he was greeted with Kageyama’s perennially scowling face.

A multitude of thoughts ran through Tsukishima’s mind upon seeing who was in front of him, most prominent of which were _‘What in the world is he doing here?’_ _‘Am I imagining things?’_ and finally _‘Kuroo Tetsurou is a dead man.’_

“I did have a bad feeling about this from the start,” Tsukishima said through gritted teeth. “Kuroo’s behind this, isn’t he?” To think Kuroo would do something like this after Tsukishima explicitly told him not to meddle.

“It’s not his fault. I asked him to do it.”

What Kageyama failed to understand was that one did not simply _ask_ Kuroo Tetsurou to do anything. For Kuroo to agree, he would have wanted to do it as well. “He didn’t say ‘no’ so he’s partly to blame.”

Kageyama frowned. “I don’t want to cause any trouble for Kuroo. If you’re going to get mad at anyone then just get mad at me. This was my idea. I wanted to talk to you and I asked for help.”

Tsukishima made sure to return the frown two-fold. “How many times do I have to tell you that we don’t need to talk?”

“If you don’t want to talk that’s fine, you can just sit there. I’ll do the talking so just listen to what I have to say.”

“You do realize that I don’t _have_ to listen to you, right? I can walk away right now.”

“I didn’t want to have to say this but,” the frown on Kageyama’s face deepened and he looked like he was literally trying to force the words out, “after all that happened, don’t you think you owe me this, at least?”

Kageyama didn’t exactly say _‘I got injured because of you, remember?’_ but he might as well have considering that was all Tsukishima heard. Kageyama did know how to go for the jugular if he put his mind to it.

Tsukishima had conflicting feelings about what Kageyama was trying to do. A part of him (the one that consistently used pride as an impenetrable shield) felt indignant over the fact that Kageyama even dared to use that card against him, while another part (the one that nagged him with guilt these past six years) conceded that Kageyama had every right to do that.

The guilty side won out.

“Fine. You want to say something? Say it.”

“Okay, but you’re not allowed to storm out like you did the other day.” Kageyama looked at Tsukishima with determined eyes. “You have to stay here and listen until I’m done.”

Tsukishima had to tear his gaze away from Kageyama’s. Those eyes were too intense, he almost felt like he was being choked. “Alright. Fine. Start talking.” He said petulantly to the general direction of the window, avoiding Kageyama’s eyes at all costs.

“One more thing, Tsukishima–”

_Oh god, what now?_

“–please look at me.”

Tsukishima hadn’t been meaning to but his sheer incredulity at those words had him doing just as Kageyama asked. “Excuse me, what? Why is that even necessary?”

The fire in Kageyama’s eyes were temporarily snuffed out. He looked like he wasn’t expecting Tsukishima to ask that question and, thus, did not have an answer prepared. “Oh, that – that’s,” Kageyama scratched at the back of his neck sheepishly, “I’ve been told that you need to see my face for you to know that I’m being sincere.”

Tsukishima clicked his tongue. He could hazard a guess as to who Kageyama’s secret advisor was. He was really going to kill Kuroo if it was the last thing he ever did. “I will look wherever I damn well please. Now, can you start talking about what you came here to talk about? We don’t have all day.” Tsukishima leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He kept his eyes trained on an indoor plant positioned just behind Kageyama. He couldn’t quite meet Kageyama’s eyes yet; there was still every danger of those eyes regaining their intensity from earlier.

“I’ve told you this before but that conversation didn’t go very well so I’ll repeat it. I never blamed you for my injury. It wasn’t your fault and frankly, it no longer matters. It’s completely healed now. It’s better to just forget that any of that ever happened.”

Not for the first time, Tsukishima sincerely wondered why the people around him were so convinced that if they repeated that statement (and its numerous variations) to him enough times, he would eventually accept it.

“Five years, Kageyama. For five years you believed that you would never play again. Are you saying that in that entire time, you never once felt that I was responsible?”

“Yes. That’s what I’m saying. None of us wanted that to happen. It doesn’t make sense to blame you.”

“But I was the one they were after. You never thought even once that I should have been in your place, instead?” Tsukishima challenged. It was too hard to fathom that Kageyama hadn’t even once hated him for the injury. How can Kageyama be so nonchalant about having been injured because of him? Hate had always been the default emotion between the two of them. Not forgiveness. Not understanding.

“I would _never_.” Kageyama said with such vehemence, Tsukishima was taken aback. “Did you really think I’m that kind of person? I know you never liked me but that’s a bit…” Kageyama shook his head. “No. If I wanted to see you hurt I never would have helped you.”

 _Yes,_ Tsukishima thought ruefully, _and that’s one of the things that’s been bugging me all this time._ “Why did you do it? You could have just walked past.”

“I know we didn’t have the best of relationships but did you really think I could just ignore it after seeing you in that situation?” Kageyama let out a laugh that sounded empty to Tsukishima’s ears. “I would’ve thought you knew me better than that.”

Tsukishima stole a proper glance at Kageyama’s face and immediately regretted it; Kageyama looked utterly disappointed it was almost heartbreaking. Tsukishima had to tamp down on a sudden urge to maybe hit Kageyama across the face just to wipe that look off.

“Why didn’t you just get mad, Kageyama?” Tsukishima wanted to inject more venom into his words but they came out sounding like a plea, reflecting more of his actual feelings than he intended. This entire injury business would have been so much easier if Kageyama had just lashed out at him the same way Tanaka and Hinata had done; righteous anger was a whole lot easier to deal with compared to the magnanimous forgiveness of a person Tsukishima professed to hate. “You know, when I called you for the first time to ask for the interview, I really thought you would hang up the moment you realized it was me.”

Kageyama smiled but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Tsukishima was getting more and more annoyed by the minute.

“Tsukishima,” Kageyama said, “if our positions were really reversed – if I was the one getting beat up and you were the one who passed by – would you have come to help me?”

Tsukishima already knew what his answer would be; he had asked himself that question many times before. But right now, being asked the same thing by Kageyama, Tsukishima felt like he was being held at gunpoint – it wouldn’t matter what he said because, either way, he was staring down the barrel of a gun and the person on the other end can pull the trigger regardless of what answer he gave.

_What difference does it make?_

_It already happened._

_It’s useless thinking about these things._

Almost like he could tell what Tsukishima was thinking, Kageyama pressed on. “Humor me just this once, Tsukishima.”

Tsukishima wrung his hands together underneath the table, where Kageyama couldn’t see them. He braced for impact. “Yes.”

Kageyama seemed surprised by that, to say the least. He almost looked like he was hoping to hear that answer but never in his wildest dreams even expected to _actually_ hear it. “You would? Then, what if you got an irreversible injury because of that,” Kageyama leaned in closer, as if he were asking Tsukishima about the secrets of the universe and not hypothetical questions from an event that occurred when they were kids, “Would you…? Would you get mad at me and say it was my fault?”

Tsukishima would regret answering this sometime in the near future, he could already tell. “No.”

Kageyama went through a quick succession of different expressions – surprise, disbelief, understanding, happiness – before finally settling on confusion.

“If that’s also your answer, then you should understand where I’m coming from. Why is it so hard for you to believe when I’m the one saying it?”

“Because you’re you and I’m me,” Tsukshima said as though that fact should have been obvious and Kageyama was simply very slow, “I’ve been an asshole to you ever since the day we met. If I’d gotten injured because of you, it would have been divine retribution. You getting injured because of me is nothing but a cruel cosmic joke. You did nothing to deserve that.”

There was a moment of silence as Kageyama processed what Tsukishima just said – after which, he laughed so hard Tsukishima actually felt a bit insulted. “I finally – get it –” Kageyama said in between sharp intakes of breath, “I can’t – believe – Kuroo – was right –”

“Kuroo again? What did he tell you?”

Kageyama stopped laughing and looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Nothing important.”

Tsukishima’s eyes narrowed. “You’re a horrible liar. Tell me what he said.”

“Nothing! Just gave me advice on some stuff that I should ask you.”

Tsukishima’s mind immediately jumped to the seemingly innocent hypotethical questions he got from Kageyama and realized with great displeasure that he may have just been tricked into revealing not only his hand but the entire freaking deck. More importantly, though...

“That conversation. How much of that was you and how much was Kuroo?” Tsukishima unconsciously worried at his lip. It was a nervous habit he picked up after he moved to Tokyo. “You were just telling me the things that Kuroo wanted you to say, weren’t you?”

“No.” Kageyama said with as much conviction as anyone could possibly fit into that word. “That was me. Kuroo pointed me in the right direction but that was all me. You have to believe that.”

“And why should I?”

To Tsukishima’s surprise, Kageyama gave him a _look_. (Tsukishima made a mental note to find out if Kuroo taught Kageyama that as well.)

“Because, Tsukishima, we’ve just established three things. I don’t hate you as much as you think I do, you don’t hate me as much as I think you do, and we actually care about each other’s well-being more than we’d like to admit. At this point, I think we could learn to trust each other.”

As Kageyama said those things, Tsukishima was made almost painfully aware of the fact that despite similarities, this was not the same awkward boy he dealt with in high school. “Alright, fine. I believe you. No need to pull out the cringe worthy lines.”

“Kuroo said you like–”

Tsukishima raised his hand to stop Kageyama. “No. Don’t believe everything Kuroo says because that’s a sure way to make people _not_ trust you.”

Kageyama looked like he was carefully processing this new information. “Right.” He said with a nod. “Don’t trust everything Kuroo says. Got it.”

Tsukishima clenched his fists. Kageyama looked almost adorable doing that.

_God, I need to drink stronger coffee._

“I’m going to order another cup of coffee,” Tsukishima announced. “Do you want one?”

Kageyama looked like he couldn’t believe what Tsukishima said but was pleased nonetheless. “Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had such a hard time writing this chapter i can't even tell anymore if they're in character or what seriously how do you even make two of the most emotionally constipated characters in the haikyuu universe have a semi heart-to-heart talk without making them sound like sappy caricatures of themselves??? why did i even decide to write this kind of story about these two what was i thinking WHYYYYY (T_T)
> 
> on a more serious note tho, i hope i was able to make tsukishima's thoughts and feelings (and kageyama's to a certain extent) about the whole injury debacle clear enough. it's obvious to me because i already know what i intend the characters to think and feel so this skews my perspective a bit and i may end up writing in a way that is not as obvious to the reader. apologies for that. feel free to ask if anything is unclear.
> 
> (p.s. as always, pls shout at me if i missed some typos or mistakes.)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post this in time for Tsukki's birthday but real life happened and I'm a day late. It's still September 27th somewhere else in the world, right?

At best, the vending machine coffee they had at the office had always been merely ‘tolerable’ for Tsukishima’s tastes. He drank it nearly everyday but that was out of necessity; he simply needed the caffeine to fuel him. Today, however, Tsukishima would grudgingly admit that he acquired a certain sense of enjoyment from his daily morning coffee break, even if he was having the same shitty one from the vending machine, while sitting on the same bench, in the same spot just outside their office building. Maybe the coffee was actually better this time. Maybe he was simply imagining things. Either way, today was a pretty good day and not even subpar coffee could make Tsukishima think otherwise.

 _You know perfectly well why today feels like a good day,_ Tsukishima’s traitorous brain needlessly supplied and yes, okay? Maybe Tsukishima could agree with that, albeit half-heartedly after considerable prodding but _agree_ nonetheless, that his recent conversation with Kageyama lifted a heavy weight off his chest.

If somebody had told Tsukishima six years ago that there would come a day when he would find himself lounging at a café, talking to Kageyama over coffee, he would have laughed at their face. The joke was on Tsukishima, though, because that was exactly what had happened the day before.

 

_“So, let me get this straight, the owner of the Blue Falcons has been following your volleyball career since high school?” Tsukishima asked. He had always known how annoyingly good Kageyama was at volleyball – the guy was called a ‘genius’ for a reason – but still, catching the attention of a major company CEO at that age was still pretty impressive._

_“Yes. The Chairman saw Karasuno play at Nationals in our first year and became a fan.”_

_Kageyama said the words so matter-of-factly, Tsukishima couldn’t help but scoff. It was just like Kageyama to say that a big shot like TG Motors’ Murata Hisashi became his ‘fan’ when he was just in first year high school and think nothing of it._

_“I understand a little better now but I could see why my younger self would have found you insufferable.” Tsukishima said._

_“What’s that supposed to mean?”_

_“You basically said that at 16 years old, you were so good at volleyball that a Fortune 500 CEO became your fan – and you said it in the same manner you would say ‘the sky is blue’ or ‘water is wet’.”_

_Kageyama furrowed his brows. “I don’t understand?”_

_Tsukishima waved his hand in dismissal. “Forget it. That’s just how you are. Anyway, so he became your ‘fan,’ what happened then?”_

_Kageyama had other ideas, however, and he refused to let the previous topic drop. “Tell me what you meant first. How am I insufferable?”_

_“It’s a little hard to explain.” Tsukishima could try but he wasn’t sure if Kageyama would even get what he was trying to say. “You know, most people could spend the rest of their lives practicing and never catch the eye of anyone notable. You, on the other hand, was able to do that at 16 and you say it like it’s nothing, precisely because to you it’s nothing – you’re just that good. You’re a genius.”_

_“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Kageyama was frowning at Tsukishima now._

_Tsukishima sighed. Geniuses like Kageyama simply wouldn’t understand the bitter insecurity that came with trying your hardest but never being good enough. “Look, this is exactly why I told you to just forget it. You wouldn’t understand what I’m trying to say, anyway. It’s a commoner thing.”_

_“Commoner thing.” Kageyama echoed, his voice flat and stone cold._

_Well, shit. Tsukishima didn’t mean to say that. “I think it’s better to just drop this topic and go back to talking about how you got scouted by the Blue Falcons, you know,_ like I suggested earlier _.”_

_“No.” Kageyama pressed on. “Let’s talk about kings and commoners, since you seem to like that so much.”_

_Oh god, not even thirty minutes in and they were already fighting. Why did Tsukishima think this attempt at ‘friendship’ with Kageyama was a good idea, again? “Are we really doing this now? Why are you still so affected? Even during the interview you reacted negatively when this was mentioned. It’s been ages. The whole ‘king of the court’ thing happened in middle school!”_

_“You’re one to talk! You spent the last six years being an asshole to your friends and family because you were moping about an injury that I never said was your fault!”_

_Okay that – that was a low blow. “I thought we just closed that book.” Tsukishima was slowly coming to terms with the whole injury thing but it didn’t mean that it wasn’t still a sore spot. Not even a day had passed since he and Kageyama reconciled over that, for crying out loud._

_Kageyama had been growing increasingly agitated but the lull in Tsukishima’s voice seemed to have brought him back to his senses. “I didn’t mean to say that. Sorry, it just slipped out.”_

_Kageyama sounded genuinely remorseful as he said that, it would be such an asshole move for Tsukishima to still antagonize him afterwards. It would be like kicking a puppy._

_Wait._

_Comparing Kageyama to a puppy?_

Kageyama is persistent, energetic, naïve, and loyal almost to a fault, _Tsukishima listed off in his head,_ Huh. Maybe that comparison isn’t too far off.

_Tsukishima laughed. That mental image was a little too much._

_“Tsukishima?”_

_Kageyama looked at him with such worried eyes, Tsukishima had to laugh harder. God, Kageyama was so cute – whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait. That was not what Tsukishima was going for._

_Tsukishima abruptly stopped laughing and stared at Kageyama in panic._

_“Tsukishima? Are you okay?”_

_The worried eyes were still there and Tsukishima would be damned. Those eyes would be the death of him._

Tsukishima shook his head violently in an attempt to chase that particular memory out. That was a thought that needed filing away into the deep corners of his brain, never to be opened again.

“I knew I’d find you here.” A voice interrupted Tsukishima’s thoughts (and thank goodness for that, Tsukishima’s thoughts were going haywire).

Tsukishima looked up and was surprised to see Fujiwara. “Why are you here?” Tsukishima clearly remembered that the final schedule with the Blue Falcons was set for today. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the Blue Falcons’ group photoshoot?”

“Yeah, but we postponed that photoshoot for the time being because we ran into a bit of a complication.” Fujiwara took out a cigarette and held it between his lips. He rummaged through his jeans pocket in search of something and turned to Tsukishima when he couldn’t find whatever it was. “You got a lighter?”

Tsukishima scrunched up his nose in distaste. “No. I don’t make a habit of slowly killing myself with poison.”

“Hey, I don’t give you shit for your crap taste in coffee,” Fujiwara eyed Tsukishima’s vending machine coffee with disgust, “so don’t butt into my vices.” He said even as he put the cigarette back into its box and into his pocket. “I’m not putting it back because of what you said I just can’t find my lighter. Anyway, aren’t you even going to ask why the photoshoot was postponed?”

“Even if I don’t, you’re going to tell me anyway. Isn’t that why you’re here?”

Fujiwara shrugged. “Alright, you got me.” He sat down on the bench beside Tsukishima. “It’s Kageyama, but you probably knew that already.”

Tsukishima honestly didn’t. “What happened with him? Is there a problem?”

“Come on, don’t play coy. It has something to do with you. He refused to participate in any of the interviews and photoshoots after _you_ got reassigned.”

“As hard as it is for you to believe, this is news to me too. This is the first time I’m hearing about this.” That wasn’t a lie. Kageyama had neglected to mention anything about the interviews to Tsukishima.

“Really.” Fujiwara looked at Tsukishima suspiciously and, honestly, Tsukishima thought it said a lot about his and Fujiwara’s working relationship if the other found it hard to believe he was telling the truth at a time like this. “Okay, let’s just say I believe you. Besides, I no longer care about whatever the deal is between you and Kageyama. I just want to get this assignment over with and, right now, Kageyama is making that impossible and I need your help.”

It was Tsukishima’s turn to grow suspicious. “What kind of help?”

“Well, you were the one who convinced Kageyama to agree to the interview, right? Now, I need your help in convincing him to push through with it until the end. It’s just one damn photoshoot left. Please.”

“Oh, _that_ kind of help.” Tsukishima gave Fujiwara a predatory grin. “Hmm, I don’t know, Fujiwara. I seem to recall you calling me an ‘asshole’ a few days ago and I’m not quite sure if ‘assholes’ are the kind of people who would readily offer their help?”

“What? I already apologized to you about that! You said, ‘there are no amends to be made, I’m good.’ I distinctly remember that, don’t you dare try to deny it.”

“Really? I’m kind of having a hard time recalling that. It must be my ‘crap taste in coffee’ affecting my brain. Thanks for graciously pointing that out earlier, by the way.”

Fujiwara groaned. “Come on, man. Don’t do this. Do you know who our chief is? Do you know what she’s going to do to me if she finds out that the last part of the feature was screwed up because Kageyama stopped participating? I have a young daughter who needs a father, Tsukishima. Help this old man out just this once.”

“Don’t exaggerate. You’re not _that_ old, Fujiwara.”

“And that’s not the point.” Poor Fujiwara, he looked like he was about to cry. “I get that you’re getting some twisted form of satisfaction here but I’m being serious. I really need your help.”

Tsukishima smiled. Sincerely, this time. “Oh, relax. I’m just messing with you.” God, Kuroo must be rubbing off on him more than he thought. “Honestly, I thought the ‘help’ you were asking for was more troublesome than that. I’ll talk to Kageyama and ask him to join the last photoshoot. That shouldn’t be–”

Tsukishima caught himself before he finished that sentence. What was he about to say?

_That shouldn’t be too difficult? That shouldn’t be a problem? That shouldn’t be too much of a stretch and is now, in fact, as simple as saying, ‘I’ll go and grab a bite to eat?’_

Tsukishima laughed despite himself. Apparently, asking Kageyama for a favor was a simple thing for him to do now. “That shouldn’t be a big deal, Fujiwara.” He found himself saying. “I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding.”

“Thanks, Tsukishima.” Fujiwara clapped Tsukishima on the back as he stood up from the bench. “You’re not as bad as I thought you were,” he added almost as an afterthought, “Need a little improvement here and there but, overall, not that bad.”

“I could say the same about you, Fujiwara.” Tsukishima said teasingly.

Fujiwara laughed – loud and booming, belying his lanky frame. It was a pretty funny sight and Tsukishima couldn’t help but join in.

#

The rest of the day had gone pretty well after his conversation with Fujiwara and Tsukishima was ready to call it in and declare it as ‘quite possibly the best day ever’ – that is, until he got home, finished his shower, and got a call from Kuroo, who greeted him with a loud and obnoxious, ‘See? What did I tell you?’

“You said you wouldn’t meddle,” Tsukishima said point-blank, “then you went ahead and did the exact opposite of that.”

“It’s not meddling if I didn’t actively pursue it,” Kuroo answered using patented Kuroo logic and, at this point, Tsukishima wondered why he even bothered sometimes. “Kageyama was the one who asked for my help, as I am sure he told you.”

“Yes, he did. He was quite adamant in protecting you from my wrath. You should actually be ashamed of yourself. I kind of feel like you just used him for you own nefarious purposes.”

From Kuroo’s end, Tsukishima heard a light thumping sound. “You can’t see it but I am clutching my chest in pain right now, Tsukki, because you are accusing me of taking advantage of Kageyama and using him to talk you out of the stupid life decision you committed yourself to six years ago.”

At those words, Tsukishima felt the beginning pangs of betrayal. Was his earlier hunch true, then? Was this all Kuroo’s doing and Kageyama was simply repeating words from a pre-approved script?

“Weren’t you?” Tsukishima said, trying hard to keep his tone neutral.

Kuroo must have picked up on Tsukishima’s uncertainty anyway because when he spoke again, he sounded thoughtful and sincere. “Hardly. I gave him a bit of a nudge but that was all his doing.”

Tsukishima remembered what Kageyama told him. “He said you gave him advice on stuff he should ask me – and he asked me some pretty weird questions. Those weren’t from you? And while we’re at it, just what kind of crazy advice did you give him anyway? I have to look at his face to know he’s being sincere? What kind of moron gives advice like that?”

 _What kind of moron_ listens _to advice like that?_

Kuroo laughed. “But did you do it, though? Did you look at his face while he was talking to you?”

 _I tried to but I can’t meet his eyes,_ Tsukishima would never say. “Answer my question first.”

“Kageyama asked _me_ those questions. ‘Do you think Tsukishima would have helped me if our situations had been reversed?’ ‘Would he keep a grudge if he got injured?’ ‘Would he blame me?’ I told him it would be better if he asked you himself and the answers might surprise him.”

Tsukishima felt like he should be offended by that. “What’s that even supposed to mean?”

“That depends. How did you answer him?”

“You don’t need to know.” Tsukishima said, a little too defensively than he intended and he inwardly cringed. He was sure Kuroo would pick up on that.

“Hmm, then I guess I was right.” Tsukishima was just about to voice out his rightful indignation but Kuroo cut him off. “Anyway, I’m hanging up. I just called to check in on you and maybe gloat a bit. If there’s anything else you want to know about what Kageyama and I talked about, you should ask him. Bye, Tsukki.”

Kuroo hung up before Tsukishima could say anything else.

“Weird,” Tsukishima muttered under his breath. For some reason, the thought of Kuroo’s conversation with Kageyama was still making him uneasy. Kuroo was being purposely enigmatic and weird and Tsukishima couldn’t help but feel like there was something brewing right under his nose and he wasn’t sure what it was or if he was going to like it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how do you even name OCs orz


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a warning, there's a scene here that contains borderline sexual harassment and mild homophobia (it's in the third cut). nothing major but it still might make some people uncomfortable so, i advise discretion.

Tsukishima wasn’t going to lie. He had forgotten that he left Kageyama a message that afternoon – asking the latter to give him a call – so he was rather surprised when his phone rang as he settled onto his bed and Kageyama’s name appeared on the screen.

“Hey, Kageyama.” Tsukishima said when he picked up. The clock read 11:45 PM. Did Kageyama just finish training?

“Hey, uh, is this a good time? I didn’t wake you up?” Said Kageyama on the other line, “I know it’s pretty late but I was training and I only saw your message now. I left my phone in my locker.”

Tsukishima could imagine Kageyama sheepishly scratching at the back of his neck as he said that. “It’s fine. I usually sleep late, anyway, and I did ask you to call.”

“Yeah, about that, you needed to talk to me?”

Tsukishima sat up and leaned against the headboard of his bed. “It’s about the interview,” he said. In the years he had worked as a photographer, Tsukishima has had his share of demanding, prima donna professional athletes, so he knew how to handle the situation when they were unhappy about something and then talk them into a compromise. Compared to those other athletes, he had a feeling that Kageyama would be much easier to handle. For one, Kageyama did not have the same overinflated sense of entitlement. “Fujiwara mentioned that you were having problems with the photoshoot? There’s only one more left, that’s the one with the entire team, and it would be really great if you were present for that one.”

“I see…” Kageyama drew out the last syllable, “Did Fujiwara ask you to tell me that?”

“Yes, he asked me if I could talk to you about it.”

“Oh.”

Tsukishima wasn’t sure if he was imagining things but he could almost swear Kageyama sounded disappointed. About what, he had no idea.

“Well, maybe I did give him a hard time,” Kageyama continued, “That was unprofessional of me. I’ll make sure to apologize when I see him on the next photoshoot.”

“Does that mean you’ll do it?”

“Yeah. The problems I had with the previous one has been resolved so, I’m good.”

“Fujiwara would be happy to hear that.” Tsukishima briefly considered asking Kageyama what the problem with the previous photoshoot had been but decided not to. Maybe he was better off not knowing. “Thanks, Kageyama.”

“Anything for you, Tsukishima.” Kageyama said, almost distractedly. Like he hadn’t been meaning to say it but his mouth moved faster than his brain and the words slipped out anyway.

There was a palpable pause from both ends and Tsukishima could almost _taste_ the awkwardness in the air. It would have been easy to convince himself that it was a mistake and Kageyama said something reserved for someone else – except Kageyama actually used _his_ name.

“So! It’s pretty late.” Tsukishima had been the one to finally break the silence because he was convinced that if he spent another second under that thick tension he would die. “I should sleep.”

If it was any consolation, though, Kageyama didn’t sound like he was doing any better. “Yeah, you uh, go do that. Sleep, I mean.”

“Yes, I – I’ll do that. Bye.” Tsukishima didn’t wait for answer to that and pressed ‘end’ so fast he probably set a record.

Tsukishima valiantly resisted the urge to throw his phone across the room and, instead, laid back down to finally get some much-needed sleep. Before he drifted off, however, he made a mental note to talk to his upstairs neighbor in the morning about keeping the volume down. There was a thundering noise in his ears and he was pretty sure that was the neighbor abusing the bass on their speaker system, not his heart pounding in his chest.

# 

The previous night’s phone call with Kageyama had been… awkward, to say the least. This ‘trying to be friends’ thing with Kageyama was entirely unchartered territory for the both of them, but even under the ‘unchartered’ umbrella, Tsukishima had to admit that that phone call took a real turn for the weird and uncomfortable towards the end.

_No, I’m just overreacting,_ Tsukishima tried to talk himself out of his previous line of thought. Kageyama was notorious for not knowing how to communicate like a proper human being and last night was simply an example of that. There was no use dwelling on it when there were more pressing things to consider – like his new assignment to cover one of the charity games organized by the Suntory Sunbirds.

Tsukishima wondered if he ever did anything to personally offend their chief because it seemed like she was out to get him. It was either that or the universe simply hated his guts. He should have figured that his luck in convincing the chief to remove him from the Blue Falcons assignment was extremely short-lived and would inevitably backfire.

“Fwoo,” a low whistle sounded from behind Tsukishima. He turned around and was greeted with the face of that one cheeky intern whose name he could never remember. “Just got off an exclusive with the Blue Falcons and now you’re going to cover the Suntory Sunbirds? Wow, you get all the good assignments! The Sunbirds are a pretty popular team, especially that one guy. What’s his name again? That one middle blocker who’s–”

“Hinata Shoyou.”

“Yeah, that’s the one! About this tall,” the intern (Aya? Yui?) raised her hands to about the same level as her head, “but jumps really high! I like that guy. I’ve seen his games on TV and he seems like he’s full of guts.”

“Good for you, then.” Tsukishima made an effort to sound as unenthusiastic as he felt. He turned away from Yui (he was pretty sure the name’s Yui) and back to his planner. “Now, go find someone else to bother.”

“Hmph. Rude.” Yui said. From the corner of his eye, Tsukishima saw her stick her tongue out at him before heading off to who knows where to terrorize someone else.

_Well, as long as it isn’t me._

# 

The Suntory Sunbirds was an old and well-known team owned by Suntory Holdings Limited. The team usually stayed in their headquarters in Osaka during the off-season, but for the past month, they have been staying in Tokyo for a series of charity games, the most recent one having been against the Osaka Blazers.

Tsukishima wasn’t present during the game against the Blazers but he heard from his officemates that the Sunbirds lost that one. This game, though, the Sunbirds would most likely win.

“Hinata’s really pumped up today, isn’t he?” Tsukishima heard one of the photographers beside him say. He wasn’t eavesdropping, the guy was just speaking too loud. “He’s usually like that but today he seems twice as into the game as he normally would be.”

“Ah, you weren’t in their last game, were you? They lost against the Blazers.” Another photographer said.

The first photographer’s expression morphed into an understanding one. “Oh. Oikawa Tooru?”

“Oikawa Tooru.” The other photographer said, his expression grim.

The two photographers then exchanged a look before laughing as though they just shared a clever inside joke between themselves.

Tsukishima couldn’t help but roll his eyes. The so-called ‘rivalry’ between Suntory Sunbirds’ Middle Blocker, Hinata Shoyou, and Osaka Blazers’ Setter, Oikawa Tooru, was old news. At this point, everyone and their grandmothers knew about it, so the photographers’ ‘inside’ joke wasn’t exactly as clever as they fancied it to be. Besides, with Kageyama now in the picture, Tsukishima had a feeling that the ‘rivalry’ would soon be between Oikawa and Kageyama, just like old times.

There was a tap on Tsukishima’s shoulder and he turned around to see Yamazaki Jun, a reporter from a rival sports magazine.

“Yo, Tsukishima! Long time no see!”

Tsukishima made a face. He didn’t like Yamazaki at all. The guy had a revolting personality and was arrogant beyond belief.

“Oh, come on! Don’t look at me like that! Aren’t I allowed to greet an old friend?”

They weren’t friends – Yamazaki knew that as well as Tsukishima – and the only reason the guy would even bother to talk to him was if there was an ulterior motive involved. “What the hell do you want, Yamazaki?”

Yamazaki dropped the friendly act and looked at Tsukishima as though he uncovered a particularly nasty secret about the latter. “Rumor has it that you guys at Sports Monthly booked the Falcons for an interview, including the ever elusive Kageyama Tobio.”

Tsukishima smirked at Yamazaki. “So what if we did, huh?” He said off-handedly, like booking an interview with Kageyama had not been a sought after, nearly impossible thing to do for most people. That should show Yamazaki a thing or two.

Unfortunately, Tsukishima’s words did not work as intended and, indeed, seemed to have had an opposite effect on Yamazaki, whose eyes now glinted with unveiled interest. The bad kind. The kind that felt like a thousand ants crawling up one’s arms.

“I’ve tried many times to get an interview with Kageyama but that arrogant prick always refused me. He refused Yamazaki Jun, can you believe that? I certainly can’t, so imagine my surprise when I heard that you were able to convince him. Something about a personal favor?” Yamazaki leaned closely – _too closely_ – to whisper in Tsukishima’s ears. Tsukishima could actually feel a gust of air as Yamazaki spoke and it felt icky and gross and he would probably need to shower at least five times when he got home to get himself feeling clean again. “I’ve heard some pretty interesting... _stories_ about Kageyama Tobio. They say he bats for the other team. Or, since he plays volleyball, let’s just say he sets from the other side of the court. I’ve heard stories about you, too. Stories of the same kind, interestingly enough.” Yamazaki leered at Tsukishima. “So, what kind of _personal_ favor did you offer him to get the interview? There’s no way you could convince him when _I_ couldn’t so you must have done something, huh? What was it? Did it involve spreading your–”

Tsukishima pushed Yamazaki away from him, discreetly enough so as not to make a scene but roughly enough for the other to get the message. “Well, I think you’ve said enough.” He said with fake politeness and cheer. In reality, he wanted nothing more than to punch Yamazaki in the face and maybe knock a few teeth out. “I can’t presume to know what Kageyama was thinking when he refused you but, knowing how you are, I think I can make an educated guess. It was probably because you’re an ignorant asshole who thinks far too highly of yourself. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a job to do.”

Tsukishima walked away from Yamazaki and over to the other side of the court. Yamazaki was an ignorant, bigoted idiot and Tsukishima knew that listening to anything the guy said was a complete waste of time. Tsukishima didn’t really care whatever rumors were swirling around about him. He wasn’t a celebrity of any sort and as long as the rumors didn’t affect his job, he couldn’t care less what other people thought or said. Kageyama, on the other hand…

_Kageyama wouldn’t appreciate those,_ Tsukishima thought. Regardless of whether or not the rumors were true (and that was a piece of information that would be filed in the corner of Tsukishima’s brain that said ‘Do Not Open’), Kageyama wouldn’t like that people were talking about his personal affairs like they actually had a say in it.

In hindsight, maybe that was the reason Kageyama didn’t want to be interviewed, in the first place. The attention on him was bad enough now when the public still knew almost nothing about him, but once the magazine comes out, more of his personal life would be revealed, which meant more fodder for the rumor mill. Not to mention that because of the feature with Sports Monthly, reporters would start to think that Kageyama wasn’t as unreachable as he made himself out to be and more of them would probably come knocking to force him into another interview. Kageyama’s once peaceful life would definitely change.

_Maybe doing the interview wasn’t a good idea for Kageyama, after all._ Tsukishima felt a twinge of guilt. He had been the one to convince Kageyama to do the interview with their magazine. Or maybe ‘manipulate,’ was the right word? He did take advantage of Kageyama’s feelings about being the center of attention at the expense of the entire Falcons team, to get the answer he wanted.

Tsukishima tried hard to wrench himself away from those thoughts. Yamazaki was an abhorrent creature and he shouldn’t let any of the guy’s words get to him. He directed his attention to Hinata’s teammate about to serve the ball. The game was already at match point and, if the player makes a service ace, the Sunbirds will win. Tsukishima tried to get Yamazaki’s stupidity out of his mind and focus on the match instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the Suntory Sunbirds and Osaka Blazers are real teams playing in the V Premier League and the Sunbirds are actually owned by Suntory Holdings, which is also a real company, but that's about as far as the realism and accuracy goes. any other details about these teams mentioned in past or future chapters are FICTIONAL so just keep that in mind.
> 
> next chapter: some tsukishima and hinata interaction. yay!


	14. Chapter 14

The match ended with the score of 3-1, in favor of the Suntory Sunbirds. This came as no surprise, considering how well the Sunbirds played – not just Hinata (who was hyped up because of their previous loss) but the rest of the team as well. Honestly, if they maintained this level of play in the next season of the V Premier League, they stood a serious chance of snatching the championship away from the Blue Falcons.

Tsukishima smiled as the thought crossed his mind. He had seen a couple of games between the Sunbirds and the Falcons during the last season but, to a certain extent, the idea of Kageyama and Hinata playing on different sides of the court was still weird for him. Not bad by any means, just… unusual. He did spend three years in high school watching the two play side by side for the same team. Then again, even back then Kageyama and Hinata were both too competitive and viewed each other as rivals so maybe playing against each other now wasn’t that much of a stretch. Tsukishima wouldn’t really know. He never did fully understand the thought process of those two idiots.

Speaking of which…

One of said idiots spotted Tsukishima on the sidelines and was now jogging towards him.

Tsukishima tamped down his first instinct to walk away and pretend he didn’t notice. Doing so would make Hinata think he was running away and Tsukishima couldn’t possibly have that. For a time, he did dread the thought of having to speak to Hinata again (and any of his former teammates, really) but he was actually trying to move past that now. And no, he wasn’t doing it for Kageyama. Not at all.

“Tsukishima!” Hinata called out before he even reached the man in question. When he finally did, he immediately bent down and rested his hands on his knees. It was only then that Tsukishima noticed he was still slightly out of breath from playing. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” Hinata said in between pants.

Maybe it was just his overactive imagination (or his guilty subconscious doing some unnecessary projection) but Tsukishima could almost hear the undercurrent of _‘you’ve never been to any of my games before’_ in Hinata’s words.

Tsukishima didn’t say anything and merely drew Hinata’s attention to the camera still hanging from his neck. _I’m here for work,_ the gesture was supposed to say.

Hinata stood up properly now that he had caught his breath. “I knew that. What I meant was, this is the first time you’ve covered any of my games.”

Oh. Tsukishima wasn’t imagining that then. “I’ve never been assigned to the Sunbirds until now,” he lied. The truth was, he had always vehemently refused to do any assignment involving the Sunbirds. Those were the only times Tsukishima had ever defied the chief.

“Ah, I see then.” Hinata seemed convinced, at least. “Well, since you’re here now, I should probably take advantage of this opportunity. Who knows when you’ll start avoiding me again, right?” He said with that creepy stare of his that Tsukishima never did get used to.

Okay, so maybe Hinata wasn’t that convinced, after all.

“I wanted to apologize to you.” Hinata continued. “You know, when I punched you back then? I also said some pretty mean things. I’m sorry. I was really mad at you but Kageyama made me understand. I’ve wanted to say this to you for a long time but I never got the chance. Yamaguchi said you didn’t want to meet with any of us just yet.”

That, Tsukishima wasn’t expecting and he was shocked enough to be speechless.

Hinata read Tsukishima’s silence for something else though. “I understand if you can’t accept my apology right now. Still, I wanted to get it out there while I had the chance.”

Tsukishima would deny it to his dying day but he felt a faint blossom of warmth in his chest when he heard those words. He would have laughed if Hinata didn’t look so sincere. “No need to apologize, Hinata,” He said when he had gathered his wits. “It didn’t hurt, anyway. You hit like a girl*.”

“H-hey! I’m being nice to you here! You should at least return the favor!”

Tsukishima smirked. “And while we’re on the subject of reminiscing the old days, I couldn’t help but notice, you didn’t grow any taller since high school, did you?”

Hinata pointed at Tsukishima indignantly. “I’ll have you know I grew four centimeters in the last six years!” He said, loudly enough to attract the attention of the people standing around them. At least, he had the decency to be embarrassed by it. “Look what you made me do!” He hissed at Tsukishima.

At that, Tsukishima did laugh. Heartily. Perhaps the heartiest laugh he has had in years. Before long, Hinata was laughing along with him and wasn’t that just weird? He was used to laughing _at_ Hinata, not _with_. Then again, he was used to snarking at Kageyama and throwing insults every chance he got, not having almost friendly conversations over coffee and late night phone calls. But apparently, this was Tsukishima’s life now and it was weird and uncomfortable and every-so-often utterly terrifying (because as friendly as they were with each other, he shouldn’t be finding Kageyama cute and adorable damn it).

By the time they calmed down, Tsukishima and Hinata both had tears in their eyes from laughing too hard. They had attracted even more attention from the people around them – even Yamazaki was looking at them suspiciously from one corner – but those people were prudent enough not to pry. It was none of their business anyway.

“You’re different.” Hinata said, his voice warm and friendly. “I mean, you’re still you, obviously, but there’s something different like…” Hinata flailed his arms around and gestured to Tsukishima’s entire person. Hinata had never been good at explaining things.

Tsukishima didn’t quite know how to feel about that but…

“So are you,” Tsukishima said, “anyway, I think it would just be pathetic if we’re still _exactly_ the same person we were six years ago.”

Hinata looked at Tsukishima and nodded. Tsukishima knew he understood far more than just the words that were said aloud. “Hey, Tsukishima,” he said, “you haven’t seen our teammates in a long time, right?”

“Yes.” Tsukishima said cautiously.

“Well, uh, Coach Ukai just had a daughter. It’s the first baby crow and all that so the team’s planning to visit him next weekend and then have some sort of... mini reunion, I guess? Anyway, you should come.”

Tsukishima could almost swear his heart stopped for about three seconds. He _was_ trying to move on from the past, he _really_ was, but this – wasn’t this a little too early in the process? What Tsukishima had in mind was more ‘baby steps’ and not ‘faster than the speed of light.’ Yamaguchi was not a problem (never had been) and Kageyama and Hinata, he could face right now, maybe even Asahi and Sugawara if he was really being pressed, but the entire team? And all at the same time?

_Tanaka and Nishinoya? The captain? Takeda-sensei? The COACH?_

Tsukishima didn’t know if he was ready for that. “Hinata, I’m–”

“You don’t need to give me an answer today, okay? I didn’t mean to make it sound like I’m forcing you. I just wanted to tell you because you’re a part of the team and you should know. It’s up to you what you do with that information.”

For the first time since he had known the guy, this was the first time that Tsukishima felt genuinely grateful for Hinata’s existence. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

Hinata smiled. Big and bright and for a moment, Tsukishima caught a glimpse of the sixteen year old boy who jumped too high, talked too loud, and laughed too much.

Hinata was right.

They were different now, but underneath all that, they were still the same.


	15. Chapter 15

A part of Tsukishima wanted to go.

He had not seen his mother ever since he moved to Tokyo for university and his brother had only ever visited him twice since then (Akiteru was busy – with work, with family – Tsukishima never resented him for that). For the past six years, the closest thing Tsukishima had for a ‘family’ were Kuroo and Yamaguchi. Although, he would never let that piece of information ever reach Kuroo’s ears, for the sake of his dignity.

Tsukishima remembered Yamaguchi nagging about ‘at least visiting’ Miyagi about a year ago. Yamaguchi had been lamenting the fact that he was dying a little bit inside every time he had to offer Tsukishima’s mother some lame excuse whenever she asks why the latter hadn’t come home.

_“Akiteru stopped buying the excuses years ago but he doesn’t want to say anything. He said he knows you’ll eventually come to your senses – or at least, he hopes you will,”_ Yamaguchi said then, and even though Akiteru had never questioned Tsukishima’s decision to leave (because Akiteru, despite the little bump in their relationship when they were younger, always _understood_ , always knew how to handle him), Tsukishima knew that his brother wasn’t happy that he left. No decent brother would be, to be perfectly honest.

So, really, Tsukishima wanted to go home. He missed his family. He missed Miyagi.

But.

A part of him was still full of uncertainty and fear.

Hinata had been really nice, and even though Tsukishima would still argue that he hadn’t deserved Hinata’s apology, he knew it was sincere. Considering that and Kageyama’s persistent efforts to reach out to him, the least Tsukishima could do was take that step for himself and face their teammates again.

But Tsukishima was going to be honest with himself here – he was scared.

He still clearly remembered the unbridled hatred and disgust in Tanaka’s eyes when the team found out about Kageyama’s injury. Tanaka had always been hotheaded – the guy demanded a fistfight at the slightest of provocations – but that had been the first time that Tsukishima saw Tanaka’s eyes being directed at him and felt like he was truly a disgusting piece of dirt underneath the latter’s shoe.

That had been bad enough, but the worst of it all were the looks of utter disappointment in everyone else’s eyes. Those looks that said they expected more from him despite knowing better, but in the end, he let them all down.

Kids grew up. People changed. Tsukishima understood that, and for quite some time now, he had been aware that his former teammates no longer begrudged him for what happened, but going back to Miyagi and facing them all was a huge step and, despite his deep-seated longing for _home_ , Tsukishima feared that he wasn’t quite ready for it.

#

It was total pandemonium in the office.

Fujiwara had arrived a few minutes earlier with Kageyama in tow and suddenly, all hell broke loose. Everywhere Tsukishima turned, interns and junior and senior staff alike were all beside themselves trying to steal glances at their visitor. Tsukishima swore he could hear some of the staff whispering some very inappropriate comments amongst themselves as they gawked at Kageyama.

_Fujiwara is an idiot for bringing him here._

Tsukishima reclined in his seat and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, trying to keep himself grounded. He briefly wondered what kind of cosmic prank had been played on him that he ended up having to work with these people.

From beside him, Tsukishima heard the sudden rustle of movement and excited chatter. He kept his eyes closed. The ridiculous shenanigans that went on in the office at that moment did not interest him so he showed no sign of caring, even if his colleagues were currently giggling like prepubescent girls beside him.

“Tsukishima.”

A familiar voice called out and Tsukishima opened his eyes. It wasn’t like he wasn’t expecting it, really.

“Kageyama. What brings you here?”

Kageyama nervously scratched at the back of his head. That was a habit Tsukishima was getting used to seeing. “We just finished the last photoshoot and I asked Fujiwara if I can come with him here. I wanted to visit yo–your office. You know, as courtesy to your boss.”

“So, you want to see our chief?” Tsukishima asked, amused. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

Kageyama looked alarmed. “Why?”

Tsukishima mouthed the words, _“She’s a harpy.”_

What talent Kageyama had in volleyball, he seemed to lack in reading lips because he simply stared at Tsukishima like he had no idea what the other was trying to tell him.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. He stood up from his chair and checked his watch. “What time are you supposed to meet with the chief?”

Kageyama seemed confused by the question but answered anyway. “We don’t really have a set time. Fujiwara said she’s having a meeting with someone right now and he’ll just come for me when she’s done.”

“Let’s go outside then.” Tsukishima threw a nasty glare at his officemates, who were doing an extremely terrible job of hiding the fact that they were eavesdropping. “Fujiwara will know where to find us.”

Kageyama brightened up. “Okay. Let’s go.”

# 

Right now, sitting on his usual bench – this time with Kageyama – Tsukishima realized that maybe he hadn’t thought his actions through. Why did he ask Kageyama to go outside? Did they even have anything to actually talk about that would warrant this kind of privacy? Did Kageyama even _want_ to talk to him? Kageyama did approach his desk but the guy never said anything about wanting to talk, Tsukishima just assumed that. Maybe Kageyama just wanted to greet him?

“I heard you talked to Hinata.” Kageyama broke through Tsukishima’s thoughts. “Did he tell you about the team’s plan next weekend?”

Tsukishima suddenly missed the awkward silence. He should have known that Kageyama would somehow hear about his conversation with Hinata and then bring the issue up with him (because his former teammates were nosier than a bunch of rich housewives with too much time on their hands and nothing better to do). “The ‘sort of mini reunion’? Yes. Yes, he did.” Tsukishima wondered if he should tell. _Hinata probably told him already, anyway. No use keeping it a secret._ “He told me I should come.”

“What did you tell him?” Kageyama’s voice sounded neutral – disinterested, even – but his expression foiled the ruse. He looked expectant.

“I haven’t answered. I’m still thinking about it.”

“What’s there to think about?” Kageyama said in a most convincing impression of a petulant five year old. “You don’t have to work next weekend, right? Fujiwara said so.”

Tsukishima found himself vaguely scandalized. “Excuse me, did you ask my colleague about my work schedule?” It would have been no big deal if it were any other colleague, but Kageyama asked Fujiwara, of all people, and Fujiwara was definitely going to latch onto that and come up with some insane theories about the two of them.

Kageyama shrugged. “I wanted to know if you were free, so I asked.”

Tsukishima pinched the bridge of his nose. What was Kageyama thinking? “You can’t just say those things around Fujiwara. He’s going to jump to conclusions.”

Another shrug. “Let him think what he wants. Anyway, are you coming to Miyagi or not?”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“You make it sound so complicated.”

Tsukishima sighed in exasperation. Kageyama’s level of persistence seemed to fluctuate between ‘scarily intense grown ass man’ and ‘annoyingly insistent child’ and both were very tiring to deal with. “You can’t force me. I know we’re doing this ‘playing nice’ thing but seriously, Kageyama, I will fight you on this.”

Kageyama turned to look at Tsukishima, eyes glinting with challenge. “When did I ever back down from a fight with you?”

Tsukishima gulped. It was those eyes again. Those damning intense ones that he could never bring himself to meet. Tsukishima tore his gaze away. “I’m not going to make a scene in my workplace,” he said. “Don’t force this issue on me right now. I need time to think.”

“Fine.” Kageyama stood up. “I’m going back inside. Give me a call when you’ve decided. I’m leaving for Miyagi next Friday.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah sorry, tsukki's going to be just a teeny tiny bit difficult about this


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't actually know how the magazine publishing industry works. I've worked for a newspaper for two years so I based this on that, however, newspapers and magazines are very different so I'm sure this is not accurate. Please take it with a grain of salt.

At that moment, the Sports Monthly office was a picture of contradiction. A quick glance showed a room alive and buzzing with activity, however, a closer look would reveal that the staff carrying out said activity were practically half-dead on their feet and only functioning out of sheer mental fortitude and copious amounts of caffeine.

The deadline for that month’s issue was fast approaching and, for the past week, nothing else was more important than finishing all the articles, touching up all the photos, and finalizing the layout of the magazine. The number one priority for the moment was making sure the magazine was finished and sent for publishing according to schedule – that is, before Friday midday – and any other thoughts and concerns were secondary.

This was also true for Tsukishima, who had been pulling consistent all-nighters and practically living in the office for the past week. (In one particularly ‘out there’ episode, he had, apparently, confided to Fujiwara that he was worried he would forget how his apartment even looked like – in his defense, he had been awake for about 60 hours straight and had had about five cups of coffee when he said that).

In this haze of mental exhaustion and sleep deprivation, Tsukishima found a convenient excuse to cast any thoughts of the impending Karasuno reunion out of his head. He had near perfected the art of compartmentalizing his thoughts, so conveniently forgetting about the reunion the moment he had something else to occupy his mind with wasn’t too difficult. Work had always been a good distraction. Work that demanded every bit of his time and attention, even better.

By the time he finished his tasks at around Thursday midnight (or was it already Friday morning, he could no longer tell), Tsukishima had almost succeeded in convincing himself that he did not have a team reunion to think about and the only coherent thought he had in his head was _‘home then sleep.’_

The moment he arrived at his apartment, Tsukishima trudged towards his bed, almost on auto-pilot, and slumped face down on his pillows. He had the vaguest feeling that he was neglecting something very important but the need for sleep soon overpowered that. He was determined to sleep the rest of the day away.

#

Tsukishima’s well-earned and much-deserved peaceful sleep was rather rudely interrupted by the blaring noise of his ringing phone. He slowly opened his eyes, willing his mind to return to the world of the awake, and was met with complete darkness. Right. He got home at around five in the morning and went straight to sleep, but it was dark now so he probably succeeded in his intention to spend the rest of the day sleeping – or at least, he had been until his phone started to ring.

A cursory glance to his left revealed that no, his phone wasn’t in its usual place on top of the bedside table. Tsukishima furrowed his brows in thought. Ah, of course. He did go _literally_ straight to his bed and onto sleep when he arrived home, neglecting to do anything else before that, not even taking his phone out.

Tsukishima shifted slightly and fished the ringing phone out of his pocket. He brought the phone in front of him and squinted at the harsh blue light that met his sleepy eyes. He swiped across the screen to take the call. His eyes hadn’t quite adjusted to the light yet so he didn’t properly see who was calling.

“Hello?” Tsukishima asked, his voice still rough from sleep.

“Hey, Tsukishima,” came Kageyama’s voice, “I was waiting for you to call but you didn’t. Can we talk?”

Tsukishima was just about to ask what Kageyama wanted to talk about and whatever it was, could it wait because he was still freaking tired, when his sleep-addled brain finally decided to function properly and all thoughts of that matter he had been putting off for the past week returned to him full force.

The Karasuno reunion. Right. Tsukishima still hadn’t decided about that.

“Is this about the reunion?” Tsukishima asked even though it didn’t need an answer. “I’ve been really busy with work. I haven’t even had time to sleep this past week, let alone think about that.”

“What do you mean you haven’t thought about it? It’s _tomorrow,_ Tsukishima.”

“Yeah, about that…” Judging by Kageyama’s reaction, the guy will not take what Tsukishima was about to say lightly. Tsukishima gathered his resolve. “I don’t think I can come, after all.”

“What? Why?” Kageyama seemed mildly irritated.

“Well… I really want to rest this weekend. Like I said, I was working nonstop this past week.” The excuse sounded flimsy even to Tsukishima’s ears.

“That’s a lie and we both know it.” If Tsukishima thought Kageyama was irritated before then now he was seething. “I know what you’re doing. You’re coming up with this half-assed excuse because you’re scared to face our teammates.”

Tsukishima stiffened at that. He had admitted the same thing to himself before but he didn’t need – didn’t _want_ – to hear that from Kageyama. “Why are you getting angry all of a sudden? I never promised I was going. You’re being unreasonable.”

“I don’t care.” Kageyama said, stubborn and defiant as always. “I’m sick of your shit and somebody needs to knock some sense into you.”

Tsukishima had had only ten hours of sleep for the past five days, he hadn’t had a decent meal in the same period of time, and now, the first time he was able to go home and sleep in a proper bed, he had been rudely awakened, only for Kageyama to attack him like this. As far as Tsukishima was concerned, he didn’t deserve any of it. “Are you quite done? Because I’m hungry and tired and, frankly, I don’t have the energy to deal with you. If you’re just going to be like this then I’m hanging up.”

“You’re just a _coward_.” Kageyama spat the word like it was something disgusting he ate. “You’re going in circles and coming up with half-assed excuses because you’re scared.”

“Okay, I’ve had enough.” Tsukishima said in a tone that was both exasperated and irate. “You don’t have the right to dictate any of my actions and you sure as hell don’t have any right to demand that I come to that reunion when I don’t want to. I don’t have to take any of this from you. Who do you think you are? We’re not even friends.” It was a few seconds after the words left his mouth that Tsukishima realized he may have said the wrong thing.

On the other end, there was no sound except for Kageyama’s faint breathing.

“Right. Of course. What was I thinking?” Kageyama finally said after a few seconds of complete silence. Tsukishima was sure he wasn’t imagining the disappointment and resignation in Kageyama’s voice. “I guess running around after you for years amounted to nothing, huh?” A hollow laugh. “Sorry for disturbing you then. Bye.”

Kageyama hung up immediately after that, Tsukishima did not even have time to process what he said and let the regret fully sink in. The regret will come later, when he didn’t have Kageyama on the other line to say ‘sorry’ to.

#

When Tsukishima woke up again, it was already morning. The curtains fluttered in the morning breeze, sending slivers of sunlight through and illuminating the little particles of dust that danced in front of Tsukishima’s eyes, in an obvious mockery of his dark, ominous mood.

There was an unpleasant feeling in Tsukishima’s stomach that he chose to attribute to the fact that he hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday and not on the falling out he had with Kageyama the previous night.

 _Falling out_ , he thought with disdain. How dramatic. That phrase was reserved for people who shared a deeper connection, those who had a more substantial relationship to ‘fall out’ of, so to speak. It did not apply to him and Kageyama because what they had was a shaky understanding at best and now, Tsukishima had gone and destroyed it.

 _No, not destroy,_ Tsukishima corrected himself, _you can’t destroy something that wasn’t there._

Tsukishima stared at his ceiling for a good ten minutes before acknowledging that the morning was indeed too beautiful for him to be having such morose thoughts.

He decided to get out of bed and fix himself some breakfast. There was nothing good food and a refreshing shower couldn’t fix.

#

Or so he thought.

Tsukishima glared at his half-eaten breakfast as though it personally offended him. He took a shower and sat down in his kitchen to eat, but before long, he realized that he didn’t have the appetite. Heck, that shower wasn’t even as refreshing as advertised.

Most annoying of all, his thought compartmentalization ability was failing him at the moment and his mind kept coming back to what Kageyama said to him the night before.

“Running around after me for years? What is that even supposed to mean?” Tsukishima irritably asked his mug of coffee (also half-consumed). “And why the hell did he sound so disappointed and sad? Just because I said we weren’t friends? What is he, a kid?”

Coffee mugs, Tsukishima would come to learn, did not offer much when it came to conversation.

They also did not offer much when it came to reinforcing a person’s denial.

A few more phantom somersaults in his stomach and Tsukishima was finally forced to call it in. There was a word for the unpleasant feeling and he could recognize it well enough.

Guilt.

Over the fact that this time, he genuinely hurt Kageyama’s feelings – and _unintentionally_ , at that. Tsukishima just couldn’t get a break, could he?

“I really screwed up this time, didn’t I?” He asked the coffee mug again. It still didn’t give a reply but, honestly, Tsukishima didn’t need one.

#

Miyagi was just as Tsukishima remembered, give or take a few minor details.

It was already a little past noon when he arrived. He had gone straight to their house and was overwhelmed at the greeting he received from his mom, who rushed forward to hug him tightly – as if he would disappear off to who knew where again if her hold slackened for even a moment. Tsukishima had felt a lump of guilt in his throat. He hadn’t been a very good son.

From the corner of his eye, Tsukishima had spied Akiteru watching the scene, first with surprise and then relief. Akiteru met his eyes and said, in perhaps the warmest tone Tsukishima had ever heard from his older brother, “Welcome home, Kei.”

It had taken every bit of self of control Tsukishima had to stop himself from crying like a little child.

Unsurprisingly, his mom had quickly ushered him towards the kitchen soon after that, scolding him the entire way, _‘You’ve lost so much weight’ ‘You’re just eating take-out all the time, aren’t you?’ ‘Do you even eat your vegetables?’_ Tsukishima wanted to tell his mother that he was at a perfectly healthy weight for his height, he cooked at home when he had the time, and yes, he ate his vegetables dutifully, but he decided to keep quiet and let his mom smother him for a bit because she seemed to miss doing that to her youngest child, especially now that her eldest had married. Tsukishima wouldn’t admit it out loud but he kind of missed it too.

After having lunch, Tsukishima found Akiteru out in their backyard, tossing a volleyball against the headboard of the old makeshift basketball ring, just like he used to when they were kids.

“So, your wife’s not around?” Tsukishima asked. He hadn’t met Hanako but from what his mother said, the woman was lovely and kind. Well, she had to be to obtain his mother’s stamp of approval.

“She’s visiting her parents.” Akiteru replied. “If I had known you would come home today, I would have asked her to delay her trip until next weekend. She’s great. I really wanted you to meet her.”

“That’s not a problem. I’m sure we’ll have plenty more chances to meet in the future.”

Akiteru stopped tossing the volleyball and turned to face Tsukishima. “Does that mean you’ll come home more often now?”

“Yes.” Tsukishima said, sincerely and without hesitation.

Akiteru beamed. “Mom would be happy.”

Tsukishima returned his brother’s smile. He felt truly peaceful and content. “I know.”

#

Tsukishima went to Sakanoshita later that evening and wasn’t at all surprised when he found the store closed.

Figured. The owner was celebrating the birth of his first child, after all, and if the merry noise wafting in from the backyard was anything to go by, then the celebration was already well underway.

Tsukishima could always knock, but then he wouldn’t know who was going to open the door and he wasn’t sure if his nerves could withstand coming face to face so suddenly with Coach Ukai or, heaven forbid, Captain Sawamura.

It was a bit embarrassing to admit but Tsukishima might need someone to _figuratively_ hold his hand through this process.

An idea occurred to him and… well, he already went this far, anyway.

Tsukishima took his phone out and sent a quick message.

_‘Hey, I’m outside Coach Ukai’s store right now. You’re probably still angry about last night but, can you please come and get me?’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little more 'choppy' than usual (by which I mean there are a lot of scene jumps). I hope that isn't too jarring. Don't worry, in the next chapter we'll get a little more insight into Tsukishima's thought process through this whole thing. I mean, one moment he's glaring at his half-eaten breakfast and then the next he's in Miyagi? What's up with that right?


	17. Chapter 17

Tsukishima stood waiting in front of Sakanoshita, leaning against a lamp post with nothing but his own shadow as a companion. This part of town had always been on the peaceful side. Even back in high school, when he and his teammates spent many nights walking back home after a late practice, this street had always been quiet and empty, and on the rare occasions when they forgot themselves and made a ruckus, Coach Ukai had always been there to quickly scold them for disturbing the neighbors.

That had exactly been the case that one time Kageyama and Hinata wanted Tsukishima to tutor them. Kageyama ‘politely’ asked Tsukishima to do so, although, only the words he used were polite and he basically shouted his request at Tsukishima. Coach Ukai had not been pleased at the noise.

Tsukishima smiled at the memory. Those had been good days.

 _“_ _You make it sound so complicated.”_ He recalled Kageyama’s words from a week ago.

Kageyama was right. He had been overthinking things and coming up with all kinds of stupid excuses. He thought he was moving on but in reality, he had been taking two steps back every time he took one small step forward.

In his self-imposed six-year isolation from his teammates, Tsukishima had forgotten the most important thing – these people were his _friends_. Even though they got mad at him back then, even if they were disappointed, they were not the kind of people who would hold a grudge against him for years. Hinata should have been proof enough of that. Hinata, who had been the first to lunge at Tsukishima with a vicious punch all those years ago. Hinata, who had met Tsukishima again recently and greeted him with a warm smile and a heartfelt apology.

It had taken accidentally hurting Kageyama’s feelings for Tsukishima to finally come face to face with the fact that he was a self-centered idiot, too caught up in his own obnoxious thoughts that he couldn’t see how his actions actually affected the people around him.

No wonder Kageyama got angry.

“I bet he’s still mad.” Tsukishima turned his gaze skyward. The moon was pretty that night. “I wonder if he’ll actually come out to get me?”

“Yes, he would,” said a gruff voice, “but you’re right, he’s still mad at you.”

Tsukishima looked back down and was met with a scowling Kageyama. “Hi,” he started lamely, “any chance I could change your mind about that last part?”

Kageyama ignored the question. “You should have asked Yamaguchi to come get you instead of me. He’s your best friend, right? Whereas, the two of us are not even friends.”

Tsukishima flinched. He could totally understand Kageyama. Those words were indeed awful to hear. “I wanted to talk to you first,” he explained, “I want to apologize for last night and I thought I might miss the chance once we’re inside and caught up with everyone else.”

Kageyama merely scoffed. “Whatever. Let’s talk about it later. Let’s go inside.” Kageyama immediately turned his back on Tsukishima and made his way towards the direction of Coach Ukai’s home.

Tsukishima’s body moved before he even registered what he was doing and he reached for Kageyama’s wrist to stop the latter from taking another step. “I’ll hold you to that, okay?” He said. He may have sounded just a little bit sad and pathetic. “You have to talk to me later.”

Kageyama didn’t even bother to look at Tsukishima. Instead, he kept his eyes trained on Tsukishima’s hand around his wrist. “They’re going to wonder where I went if I take too long.” He pried Tsukishima’s fingers off of him and wordlessly walked away once he was free.

Tsukishima swallowed a lump in his throat. _Later. I’ll fix it later._ He steeled himself and followed after Kageyama. He had former teammates to meet first.

#

As was typical of small family-owned stores, Sakanoshita was within the same compound as the Ukai residence. Kageyama and Tsukishima had to walk only a few paces to Coach Ukai’s home. When they arrived, they were warmly greeted by their coach’s wife and Kageyama made brief introductions between Tsukishima and Mrs. Ukai (Shizuka, she said her name was) before leading Tsukishima to the backyard, where the celebration was taking place. The team was having a barbecue, apparently.

Much to Tsukishima’s disappointment, Kageyama was still giving him the cold shoulder and hadn’t even bothered to check if he was following behind. Not that there was any need to because he was determined to see this thing through, for once and for all. Initially, when he asked Kageyama to come get him from the store, he had been hoping that Kageyama would offer him at least some bit of support. Unfortunately, he terribly misjudged Kageyama’s level of anger at him and that part didn’t quite go according to plan. Now that he was here, however, he didn’t have any plans of backing out at the last minute, so he gathered up all the courage he could muster and stepped out into the backyard.

The first one to notice their arrival was Hinata, who half-ran towards their direction the moment he spotted them. “You made it!” Hinata said, loudly and excitedly enough to attract everyone else’s attention.

Tsukishima felt a mild surge of panic when he noticed that everyone was staring at him, but the panic consequently ebbed away when he realized that the stares being directed at him were mostly of surprise and disbelief, not the disappointment and anger he had imagined.

“Tsukki,” Yamaguchi said from beside Tsukishima. Tsukishima hadn’t even noticed his approach. “You didn’t tell me you were coming.” There was no judgment, no accusation in his tone. If anything, Yamaguchi just looked extremely proud of his friend.

“Ah…” Tsukishima unconsciously stole a glance at Kageyama, who was still standing within their vicinity but being decidedly quiet. “It was a last minute decision.”

Yamaguchi did not miss the stolen glance and gave Tsukishima a look. Tsukishima had been friends with Yamaguchi long enough to know what it meant. _‘I am not going to ask now but I expect you to fill me in on this some time in the near future.’_

There was a mild tap on his back and when Tsukishima turned, he was greeted with the sight of Coach Ukai carrying a sleeping bundle of _baby_. “Glad you could make it, Tsukishima,” Coach Ukai said, “Although, you’re a bit late. Keiko had fallen asleep.”

Tsukishima looked at the sleeping baby in Coach Ukai’s arms ( _Keiko_ , his mind supplied). He couldn’t quite tell if she looked like her mom or her dad. This young, it was still kind of difficult to figure that out. Perhaps in a few months. “It’s alright, Coach. She needs her sleep.” Tsukishima said with a smile. “But I can drop by tomorrow morning to meet her properly, if that’s okay?”

“Of course! You’re all, technically, Keiko’s honorary uncles so she has to meet all of you.”

Tsukishima pursed his lips. “Hm. I think I prefer the title of honorary older brother. Aren’t I a bit young to be an uncle?” He said playfully.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Nishinoya suddenly called out as he approached the group together with Asahi, Sugawara, and Captain Sawamura. “If Tsukishima gets to be an older brother then all of us should be older brothers as well. We’re all close in age.”

“No, I refuse to do that,” Coach Ukai said sagely, “because making you Keiko’s honorary older brothers means I’m your honorary dad and I’m sure as hell not old enough to be the father of any of you.”

“Well, I don’t necessarily object to having a dozen or so honorary sons.” The Karasuno boys (young men now) all turned to the source of the voice – Coach Ukai’s wife, Shizuka, standing by the doorway leading into the house. “Let me take Keiko inside and leave you boys here to catch up.”

“Are you sure?” Coach Ukai asked.

“Of course. Staying outside at this time isn’t good for her, anyway.” Shizuka approached her husband and gestured for the baby.

“Okay, then.” Coach Ukai handed Keiko over to his wife. “Thank you.”

Shizuka gave her husband a knowing smile before disappearing into the house.

“Alright, you guys,” Coack Ukai addressed his former team. Memories of their team meetings and huddle sessions in high school briefly flashed in Tsukishima’s mind. “You heard Shizuka. Let’s do some _catching up_.” Coach Ukai clapped his hands together. “Who wants beer?”

# 

Tsukishima had expected a little awkwardness when he met his former team again but, surprisingly, he found it easy to slip into the playful banter they once shared – mostly because his former teammates made it so. This was, he decided, another testament to how truly amazing people the guys at Karasuno were and, once again, he realized that his decision to avoid his team for the past six years had been incredibly stupid – and this realization was further cemented into his brain when, halfway through his second can of beer, Tanaka approached him.

“This is nice, isn’t it?” Tanaka said as he sat beside Tsukishima, “Getting together like this as a team, I mean.”

Tsukishima looked at his former teammates scattered around them. On one corner, former captains Ennoshita and Sawamura seemed to be caught in the middle of some, undoubtedly, drunken debate while Sugawara served as a strangely amused referee. Off to one side, there was Nishinoya and Kinoshita having a drinking competition as the rest of the team stood watching. Asahi, in particular, looked quite nervous, most likely fearing for the state of Nishinoya and Kinoshita’s livers.

“It is,” Tsukishima said, “Although, I think we’ll soon be hearing from the neighbors if they continue like this.”

“Heh, the neighbors can deal with the noise just this once.” Tanaka turned to Tsukishima with a roguish grin. “It’s not like we do it regularly.”

“Yeah, I suppose.” Tsukishima took a swig from his drink and didn’t say more.

He sat together with Tanaka for a few minutes of companionable silence before the latter, once again, spoke up.

“I was such an asshole to you back then, wasn’t I?” Tanaka said. When Tsukishima only gave him a confused look in return, he pressed on. “That time when we found out about Kageyama’s injury, I said terrible things that I never should have. I’m sorry.”

Tanaka looked really calm and solemn and so uncharacteristically _Tanaka_ as he said those words that Tsukishima was momentarily caught off guard.

It took a few seconds for Tsukishima to gather enough of his bearings and respond accordingly. “It’s alright, senpai. No need to apologize. It doesn’t quite suit you.” He said teasingly.

“Oi, just because I apologized for what I said to you before doesn’t mean I wouldn’t deck you right now for being a smartass.” Tanaka warned with no real heat behind it. He was grinning widely and looking for all the world like the naughty troublemaker he used to be in high school.

“I can always run to Captain Sawamura for help.”

Tanaka looked over to the side where Sawamura was and laughed. “I don’t think he’s in the position to help anyone anytime soon.”

Tsukishima followed Tanaka’s gaze and found Sawamura no longer engaged in heated debate with Ennoshita and now slumped over the table, plastered beyond any doubt.

Tsukishima had never thought of his former captain as a lightweight but, well, people discovered new things everyday. “Shouldn’t we…?”

Tanaka quickly figured out what Tsukishima was going to say and waved his hand dismissively. “Nah, don’t worry. Suga’s got him. This shit happens all the time. The captain’s a complete lightweight but he’s a relatively peaceful drunk.” Tanaka leaned in conspiratorially. “If there’s anyone we should be keeping an eye out for, it’s Noya. He can hold his liquor pretty damn well but he always _always_ drinks more than he can take and when he’s well and truly fucking shitfaced…” Tanaka shuddered, “Trust me, you don’t want to be around him when that happens.”

If anything, Tanaka’s warning only made Tsukishima even more curious about what was going to happen when Nishinoya got really drunk, but he didn’t ask Tanaka for further explanation since he figured he was going to witness it for himself soon, judging by the sheer intensity of the drinking competition still going on between Nishinoya and Kinoshita. Anyway, there was a much more pressing concern that he needed clarification to.

“By the way, senpai,” Tsukishima began, “Are you sure you don’t want to participate in their impromptu drinking competition? I’m actually surprised you’re still on the right side of sober.”

“You think I would’ve been able to apologize and talk to you properly if I was pissed drunk?” Tanaka looked at Tsukishima like he grew a second head. “Hell, no. I had to keep myself sober for this – which took a lot of effort, by the way, so you should be thankful.”

Ah. That was the case then. Well. What else was Tsukishima supposed to say to that? “You really didn’t have to apologize,” he said, much more sincerely this time, “but thank you for doing it, anyway.”

“Huh? Of course, I’d do it! It’s the right thing to do! Besides, do you know how much shit we got from Kageyama when he found out about how we treated you?” Tanaka winced. “I’ve never been scared of Kageyama but that time I genuinely feared for my life!”

Tsukishima tried to process what he heard. It didn’t make sense. “Kageyama got mad at you?”

“At all of us!” A few drops escaped from Tanaka’s beer can as he waved his arms animatedly. “We were really surprised at how he reacted. He wasn’t happy that we blamed you for his injury and he made sure we _knew_ that. In no uncertain terms. Fuck, we had no idea he was that fiercely protective of you.” Tanaka shook his head. “Did you know he spent years trying to find you? Poor Yamaguchi. Kageyama wouldn’t stop asking where you were exactly in Tokyo and how to reach you. He said he absolutely needed to talk to you and let you know that the injury wasn’t your fault, and he only stopped doing that because he went abroad for two years for his therapy.”

Tsukishima kept his poker face but, deep inside, his mind was reeling at the new information. Kageyama had done all that for him, but he mindlessly swatted Kageyama’s sincerity away like it was some annoying fly getting in his face.

 _‘Running around after you for years.’_ That was what Kageyama had said last night, wasn’t it?

#

Tsukishima did find out that night what exactly happened when Nishinoya, in Tanaka’s words, got ‘well and truly fucking shitfaced,’ and he did not envy Kinoshita one bit as he watched the latter receive an unexpected and rather sloppy kiss on the lips from the drunk in question.

Tanaka, sneaky bastard that he was, disappeared the moment Nishinoya’s antics began, muttering something that vaguely sounded like, _‘No one is safe here, I’m leaving.’_

A quick scan of the area revealed to Tsukishima that the rest of their team had a similar idea. As the crowd started thinning out, Tsukishima figured it might be prudent for him to make his exit too. As happy as he was to see his teammates again, he wasn’t too keen on receiving a kiss from any one of them. _Except maybe from…_ No. That train of thought needed to die a horrible death.

Tsukishima made a beeline for Coach Ukai and said a quick goodbye, just in time to see Kageyama slip out the door. Perfect timing.

#

Kageyama had already turned the corner when Tsukishima caught up with him. He hadn’t even noticed he was being followed (or maybe he was ignoring it on purpose) and Tsukishima had to call out to him to get his attention.

“What?” Kageyama asked when he turned around to face a slightly out of breath Tsukishima.

“You said you’ll talk to me _later_ ,” Tsukishima said, not bothering to hide his disappointment, “and then you try to leave without me noticing.”

Kageyama looked as though Tsukishima’s actions were gravely inconveniencing him. “Can’t this wait? It’s late and I want to go home and sleep.”

 _It absolutely cannot wait,_ Tsukishima vehemently thought. He knew that the longer he waited to fix things with Kageyama, the bigger the fissure between the two of them got, and a part of him loudly, angrily protested that. It didn’t entirely make sense to his rational brain because he and Kageyama never had a close relationship to begin with but, right now, the knowledge that the distance between him and Kageyama was growing even further filled him with a sense of dread and urgency that had been heretofore unknown to him. He wasn’t thinking right. His hold on logical thinking was momentarily kicked off to the curb because all he could think of at that moment was _‘I can’t let him leave like this.’_

“No, Kageyama. I need to talk to you now.”

“What for? What more do you have to say to me?” There was a flash of hurt in Kageyama’s eyes and Tsukishima was flooded with guilt once again. _He_ had been the one to cause that. “I just wanted you to fix your relationship with our teammates because I hated the thought of you avoiding them because of me. I didn’t want that on my conscience. Now that’s accomplished, there’s no more reason for us to keep up the friendly act.”

Tsukishima wasn’t going to lie. That stung a bit. _‘We’re not even friends,’_ the words echoed in his head. He couldn’t believe he even had the gall to accuse Kageyama of acting like a kid when the latter found those words upsetting. All this time, Kageyama had only ever tried to reach out to him with the hand of friendship but he repeatedly slapped those attempts away without giving much thought to how Kageyama might have felt, and now, Kageyama seemed to be growing tired of it.

“You’re lying,” Tsukishima forced the words out. If his voice broke towards the end of that statement, Kageyama seemed to be none the wiser.

Kageyama crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You’re not the only one who can play pretend.”

“You don’t–”

“Who’s to say I wasn’t just putting up an act?” Kageyama interrupted with an obviously affected air of nonchalance, “Maybe I was just pretending to be extra nice to you, or maybe–”

“Kageyama, stop.”

There was an ugly feeling in Tsukishima’s chest. Kageyama was obviously just saying those things to hurt him on purpose and push him away. It was a defense mechanism to protect oneself from having to confront even more unpleasant feelings. Better to hurt the other person and push them away than leave yourself vulnerable for that other person to hurt you. Tsukishima recognized the tactic well enough – he himself had used it numerous times in the past. But Kageyama was different from him. Sometimes, Kageyama could be honest to the point of being offensive, but deep down, Kageyama was a good person – the kind who did not deliberately set out to hurt other people’s feelings.

Kageyama did not have the same kind of vindictive personality and to see him being forced to do such things left a bitter, nasty taste in Tsukishima’s mouth.

“This isn’t like you,” Tsukishima said. The streetlight above them flickered and for a second the two of them were enveloped in darkness. When the light turned back on, Tsukishima had made up his mind. “I didn’t mean what I said last night. You were right when you said I was afraid of facing our teammates again and I didn’t want to hear that so I got defensive. I knew I screwed up the moment those words left my mouth and for what it’s worth, I’m really sorry. Believe that, at the very least.”

Kageyama didn’t say anything and merely stared at Tsukishima with uncertain eyes, all the while looking really vulnerable. It was a look that totally did not belong on the face of the guy Tsukishima knew and once again, Tsukishima mentally berated himself for his tendency to be such a colossal jerk. He hadn’t even realized how badly his words from the previous night affected Kageyama. At the rate things were going, Kageyama just might disappear from his life for good this time.

The thought made Tsukishima’s stomach churn. He needed to do something – _anything_ – to assure Kageyama that he really meant what he was saying this time and he had no intention of trampling on Kageyama’s sincerity like before.

Tsukishima held his right hand in front of him in anticipation of a handshake. “Hi, I’m Tsukishima Kei. Nice to meet you.” Kageyama looked at him like he was being stupid. Maybe he was. Tsukishima didn’t care anymore. “I think we both agree that our first meeting didn’t go very well,” he explained, “and if we’re going to be _real_ friends this time, I think we should start it right.”

Kageyama seemed to internally debate whether he should return the gesture or not. For Tsukishima, each second that passed felt like an eternity.

After a few agonizing seconds, Kageyama made his decision. He reached for Tsukishima’s hand and clasped it in a firm handshake. “I’m Kageyama Tobio. Nice to meet you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing heartfelt scenes between Tsukki and Kags sucks the life out of me so finishing that last scene of their conversation was, personally, very satisfying. Fucking finally. I was getting tired of Tsukishima’s push-and-pull routine.
> 
> P.S. My headcanon is that Tanaka and Nishinoya, being best bros, had gotten drunk for the first time together, which means Tanaka had been the very first victim of Nishinoya’s drunken antics. It was quite a traumatic experience for him.
> 
> Btw, the awesome karappon drew a lovely comic of this chapter's last scene. [Y'ALL NEED TO SEE IT HERE.](http://wolfhollows.tumblr.com/post/152467844397/i-really-love-this-scene-taken)


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains marshmallow bashing.

Considering he had appeared in Miyagi out of the blue to attend the Karasuno reunion, all without Yamaguchi’s knowledge, Tsukishima figured that it was only a matter of time before his best friend made an unannounced visit at the Tsukishima residence demanding an explanation from him.

What Tsukishima didn’t count on, however, was Yamaguchi making an unannounced visit at the Tsukishima residence, not demanding an explanation but demanding entry _with the rest of the former Karasuno team._

“I don’t remember inviting any of you over.” Tsukishima said as he stared at the eager faces of his former teammates waiting to be invited inside his home.

Yamaguchi held his hands up to show what he was carrying – on his left hand was a huge bag of snacks and on his right was a six pack of beer. As if on cue, Hinata, Nishinoya, and Tanaka mirrored the motion and showed their hands carrying the same things. “We brought beer and snacks!” Yamaguchi said as though that statement alone was enough to justify this ridiculous situation.

“My glasses are fine. I can see that. That still doesn’t explain why you’re all here.”

“We wanted to hang out!” Hinata said excitedly.

Tsukishima leveled a stare at his former teammates. “We just had a reunion. Last night.” He deadpanned. “Also, if you guys wanted to hang out, why does it have to be in my house?”

“Don’t be so stingy, Tsukishima. We rarely have chances to get together like this so let’s make the most of it.” Nishinoya said as he side-stepped Tsukishima and walked into the house.

Going by Nishinoya’s example, the rest of the team chose to ignore Tsukishima and followed inside, muttering a cacophony of _‘pardon the intrusion’_ as they did so.

Tsukishima pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know, that expression isn’t actually polite when you’re barging into my house uninvited.”

Kageyama, who was the last one to enter, stopped beside Tsukishima and gave the latter an awkward pat on the shoulder. “Lighten up, Tsukishima.” He said mechanically before heading towards the living room where the rest of their teammates were getting settled, leaving a stunned Tsukishima in his wake.

Tsukishima felt the beginnings of a headache. He wasn’t sure which was worse, avoiding his former teammates because he was afraid of rejection or avoiding his former teammates because they were annoying.

#

At some point during the shenanigans involving Tanaka and Nishinoya competing to see who could fit the most number of marshmallows into their mouths, Tsukishima escaped to the backyard. Not that he didn’t appreciate his teammates’ efforts (he wasn’t stupid, he knew his teammates organized this get-together for him) but he just needed some air. Of course, as chance would have it, Kageyama was also there when he arrived, sitting on the floor at the edge of the _engawa*_ – the same spot where Tsukishima used to sit when he was a young boy listening to Akiteru’s stories about volleyball.

“Shouldn’t you be participating in the marshmallow eating contest?” Tsukishima asked as he sat down beside Kageyama.

Kageyama made a face. “I don’t like marshmallows. Those things feel weird inside my mouth.”

Tsukishima valiantly chose not to think about things that may or may not feel weird inside Kageyama’s mouth. It was neither the time nor place for thoughts like that. Instead, he tried very hard to focus on the fact that until now, he didn’t know that Kageyama shared his opinion on marshmallows. “Ugh, tell me about it. Those things are evil incarnate hiding behind a white fluffy exterior. How anyone could ever enjoy eating them is beyond me.”

“Do you just hate marshmallows or do you not like sweets in general?” Kageyama directed a curious stare at Tsukishima. “You look like you wouldn’t enjoy sweets very much.”

Tsukshima scoffed. “Don’t just casually lump me in your ‘sarcastic and grouchy therefore must not like sweets’ stereotype. I’ll have you know that I happen to _love_ strawberry shortcake. That’s food for the gods right there.”

“Really? I hadn’t pegged you for the type.”

“Like I said, you’re lumping me into some weird stereotype.” Tsukishima crossed his arms in front of his chest, feeling a strange urge to defend his right to like strawberry shortcakes. “Which part of me says that I’m not supposed to like sweets anyway?”

Kageyama looked contemplative. “Hm… maybe the fact that you’re always salty?” He said with a wink.

For a split second, Tsukishima was caught off guard by the unexpected wink, but then what Kageyama said actually registered in his brain and he broke out laughing. Kageyama Tobio made a joke. Tsukishima didn’t think he would ever see the day. He shook his head and turned to look at Kageyama but his raucous laughter abruptly died on his lips at what he saw.

When they were in high school, one of the longest running jokes in the Karasuno team was the fact that Kageyama couldn’t smile to save his life. Any attempt Kageyama made always turned out to be less of a smile and more like an aggressive showing of teeth. Upon meeting Kageyama again six years later, however, Tsukishima discovered that Kageyama had long since learned how to do it. Armed with that knowledge, Tsukishima shouldn’t be at all surprised that Kageyama was smiling now, save for the fact that this particular smile was different.

Kageyama was staring at Tsukishima intently, an amused, boyish grin on his face. There was a certain fondness in his eyes that Tsukishima couldn’t quite place and Tsukishima’s heart may have just stopped for a second.

Huh.

On second thought, maybe it wasn’t Kageyama’s smile that was the problem here. Maybe the issue here was Tsukishima himself – that was the only way to explain the tingling warmth he could feel slowly spreading across his cheeks. Crap. He hadn’t blushed this hard since he was a college freshman crushing on the dashing Humanities professor.

Tsukishima quickly turned away to hide his blushing face from Kageyama. This was it. This was how Tsukishima Kei would die. Death by mortification. How pathetic.

“Oi, you two! What are you doing hiding out here?” Came Tanaka’s voice. Tsukishima silently thanked his lucky stars. His senpai just saved him from his impending doom.

Tsukishima immediately stood up, making a show of dusting off the bottom of his jeans. Kageyama followed suit.

“You need anything, senpai?” Tsukishima asked.

“We need players.” Tanaka tossed a volleyball in Tsukishima’s direction, which the latter swiftly caught. “We’re heading out to the neighborhood court to play for a bit.”

“Uhh…” Tsukishima wasn’t too sure about this. “It’s been a while since I played. I don’t know if I could keep up.”

“Well, that’s what you have teammates for!” Tanaka announced triumphantly.

Beside Tsukishima, Kageyama nodded. His expression turned serious. “There are six players on your side of the court.”

Tsukishima glanced back and forth at the determined look on both of his former teammates’ faces. He sighed. One of his defining characteristics was being able to recognize a lost battle when he saw one and this was definitely that. “Alright, just let me get changed.”

#

After several intense rounds of rock-paper-scissors (because the Karasuno guys were nothing if not competitive), the teams were finally decided. Team A had Kageyama, Hinata, Kinoshita, Sawamura, Ennoshita, and Nishinoya, while Team B had Sugawara, Asahi, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Tanaka, and Narita.

It was a pretty fair match-up, in Tsukishima’s opinion. At first glance, it would seem like Team B had the advantage with its noticeably taller players, but whatever Team A lacked in height, they could definitely make up for in skill considering they had three pro players among them. Besides, Kageyama was a pretty tall guy, so Team A wasn’t entirely lacking in that department. And lest Tsukishima forgot, Nishinoya and Hinata were two players who definitely proved that volleyball wasn’t all about height.

If Team B had height and power going for them, then Team A had skill and tenacity in receives. Not to mention one genius setter.

Tsukishima felt a chill travel down his spine. He had been apprehensive at first, but now that he was on the court, that feeling was starting to go away. It had been a while since he last played volleyball and he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to perform up to par. Heck, he might even end up embarrassing himself. But despite that, he felt an undeniable buzzing in his veins, an excited undercurrent that made his muscles jitter in nervous anticipation. It almost felt like his blood had stopped flowing for a long time and now had only started flowing again.

He missed this feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *An engawa is the outer corridor usually seen around a traditional Japanese house. If I remember correctly, the Tsukishima residence has it. I didn’t know what it was called though so I had to google.
> 
> Realistically, there should be more members who joined the Karasuno team in Tsukishima's second and third years in high school, however, I'm only going to mention the present, canon Karasuno team.
> 
> P.S. Writing a volleyball match brings me pain so I’m only going to write a teeny tiny bit of it in the next chapter. Just putting that out there so you don’t expect an entire match lol


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something amazing happened.
> 
> The awesome karappon drew a lovely comic of the last scene in Chapter 17. [Y'ALL NEED TO SEE IT HERE.](http://wolfhollows.tumblr.com/post/152467844397/i-really-love-this-scene-taken)

The ball made a good sound when it made contact with Nishinoya’s forearm. Even from where he was standing, Tsukishima could tell that was a great receive (as if anyone could ever expect anything less from Karasuno’s genius libero).

In front of Tsukishima, Kageyama was getting into position for a set. Two guys approached from both sides, preparing to receive the ball and spike – Hinata on Tsukishima’s left, Kinoshita on the right. Tsukishima carefully studied the scene. Kageyama was still ridiculously difficult to get a read on so it was nearly impossible to figure out to whom the set was going based on Kageyama’s posture and body language alone.

They were already on the third set of their game, the score was a nail-bitingly close 23-24, in favor of Team B. If Kageyama’s team succeeded with this play, they would buy themselves one more chance to take the win. If they didn’t, Team B would win the set and with an over-all score of 1-2, also win the match. This was a make-or-break situation for Team A and, in times like these, most setters would send the ball to the most trusted spiker, the wing spiker on the left-hand side of the setter – the traditional position of the ace – and in this case, Kinoshita. But Kageyama wasn’t _most_ setters and, if Tsukishima went with the idea that make or break situations were left to the spiker the setter trusted most then…

Tsukishima moved to the left and jumped, just in time to block Hinata’s spike and send the ball hurtling down towards the ground.

23-25, Tsukishima’s team won.

“Tsukishima!” Tanaka slapped Tsukishima on the back. “I thought you said you were rusty!”

“I am.” Tsukishima said with a wheeze. Tanaka had slapped his back _hard_. “I’m practically dead on my feet right now. I no longer have the stamina for a three-set match.”

“Nonsense! You played really well!” Another assault on Tsukishima’s back.

Tsukishima winced. “I appreciate the compliment, senpai, but I really need to rest for a bit. I feel like my legs are going to give out if I don’t sit down.” Tsukishima politely (but firmly) shook Tanaka’s hands off of him and stepped away. He found Yamaguchi sitting on a bench and headed towards it.

“Seriously, Yamaguchi?” were the first words out of Tsukishima’s mouth the moment he sat beside his best friend.

Yamaguchi handed him a towel. “What did I do now?”

“I’m not dumb. I could tell you’re behind all of this.” Tsukishima wiped his face with the towel. “You brought the team to my house and then got them to play this impromptu volleyball game. Don’t deny it. This has your name written all over.”

“Guilty as charged.” For someone saying those things, Yamaguchi looked annoyingly proud of himself. “This is to make up for all the reunions you’ve missed though the years.”

“Tch. Don’t look so smug.” Tsukishima’s words had the opposite effect. “Seriously, that look on your face is annoying me.”

Yamaguchi laughed. “You’re welcome, Tsukki. Oh, by the way, I couldn’t help but notice that you disappeared with Kageyama earlier.”

“I didn’t disappear with him. I disappeared by myself, he just happened to be there.”

“But you stayed there. With him.”

“Do you have a point, Yamaguchi.” Tsukishima deadpanned.

“I’m just saying…” Yamaguchi drew the word out, “it’s nice to see you making the effort for a change.”

Tsukishima glared at his friend. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re smart, Tsukki. I’m sure you’ll eventually figure it out for yourself.” Yamaguchi stood up. “I think I should help Hinata put the net away. Talk to you later, Tsukki.” He gave Tsukishima a knowing smile and a light tap on the back before walking away.

Tsukishima watched Yamaguchi’s retreating back with a frown. He hated it when people got cryptic with him and these days, he seemed to be getting it a lot from the people around him. Okay, mostly from Kuroo and Yamaguchi, but the point still stood – he didn’t like it. It made him feel like they knew something he didn’t.

 _Ugh, never mind_ , Tsukishima thought irritably. If Yamaguchi didn’t want to tell him then fine. No use thinking about it. He was tired, anyway. He covered his eyes with the towel and leaned against the backrest. Maybe he could just go to sleep like this.

Tsukishima was just about to doze off when he felt a cold and wet _something_ being pressed against his cheek. _Of all the rude ways to…_ Tsukishima yanked the towel off of his face and snapped his eyes open to glare at the culprit.

Kageyama was looking down at Tsukishima, a vaguely concerned look on his face. “If you’re that tired you should go home and rest, but before that, here.” He thrust a bottle of water towards Tsukishima. “I haven’t seen you drink anything since the game ended. You need to replenish your fluids.”

“You could have just called my name to get my attention, you know,” Tsukishima complained, even as he accepted the offered water, “but thanks, anyway.”

“No problem.” Kageyama sat down beside Tsukishima. “You completely read us on that last play, huh?”

“I did play with you and Hinata on the same team for three years.”

“Yeah, you did…” Kageyama trailed off. “Tsukishima, you–” he said after a beat, “do you ever miss it? Playing volleyball, I mean.”

Tsukishima knew his answer to that question even before Kageyama asked. “I didn’t until now.”

Kageyama turned to Tsukishima with an expectant face. _Of course,_ Tsukishima thought, _he wants an explanation._

“For a time, the thought of volleyball brought up painful memories so I stayed away from it,” Tsukishima said. He didn’t add that, at the time, he thought it wouldn’t be fair for him to continue playing volleyball when _Kageyama_ couldn’t. “But now I get to enjoy it again and with this game, I realized I miss it. Ah, but don’t take this the wrong way. I don’t regret not pursuing volleyball as a career or anything. Honestly, I never really saw myself doing that, and even with a harpy as a boss, I actually like my current job.”

The noise that came from Kageyama was most definitely a snort. “I find that hard to believe. I’ve met your boss, remember?”

Of course, Tsukishima remembered that. The chief had been thrilled that Kageyama visited the office to meet her and she bragged about it to everyone for _days_. “The chief is an acquired taste. Granted, most days I can’t decide whether I hate her or I’m scared of her but she’s tolerable. In moderate amounts, that is.”

“I heard she threatened to fire you if you couldn’t get the interview from me. Is that true?”

“That may have been implied, yes.”

Kageyama frowned. “I don’t think I like your boss very much.”

Tsukishima waved his hand dismissively. “It’s fine. If she hadn’t done that, I never would have reached out to you again, and…” Tsukishima looked wistfully at the sky. He was surprised he even wanted to say the next words he was about to say, but he did. “I would have missed out on being able to talk to you like this today.”

Beside him, Kageyama was silent. Tsukishima sneaked a glance and found the former looking at him with wide eyes and – was that a blush on Kageyama’s face?

Oh.

This was not good.

This was _definitely_ not good. A thousand warning bells went off in Tsukishima’s brain. His fight-or-flight instinct was going into overdrive, urging him to _run away run away run away_.

Tsukishima abruptly stood up. That turned out to be a bad idea because as soon as he lost the support of the bench on his backside, his traitorous knees buckled and his legs – still tired from the match earlier – gave out from under him.

Kageyama was quick to his feet, catching and supporting Tsukishima before the latter slumped all the way to the ground. “Whoa, there.” Kageyama wrapped his right arm around Tsukishima’s back, right hand resting on the latter’s waist, while his left hand supported Tsukishima by the left elbow.

At this point, Tsukishima was sure that his brain was going to short-circuit. Actually, scratch that. His entire body was probably going to shut down and he was going to _die_ because his heart was hammering in his chest and his stomach was experiencing what felt like a thousand somersaults per second.

Tsukishima turned to look at Kageyama. This, he soon learned, was another _terrible_ idea because as soon as he did it, he realized that they were standing _too close_ to one another. Too close, in fact, that at this distance, Tsukishima could see that he had been wrong – Kageyama’s eyes were actually royal blue and not the navy blue he always thought they were. Tsukishima managed a small laugh despite the situation he was in. Royal blue. How fitting for a king.

Kageyama furrowed his brows. “You okay there?”

“Yeah, I just stood up too fast. I’m fine now.” True enough, Tsukishima could now stand properly on his own. His legs probably just fell asleep.

Kageyama seemed reluctant to do so at first but, slowly, he let go of his hold on Tsukishima. “You should really go home and rest. Come on, I’ll take you back.”

“I can walk back on my own.”

“I’m not saying I’ll _carry_ you. I’ll just walk beside you and make sure you get home safe. What if you lose your footing again?”

That felt like a blow to Tsukishima’s pride. “I’m neither a child nor a damsel in distress.”

Kageyama rolled his eyes. This was probably the first time Tsukishima had ever seen him do that. “This isn’t something worth fighting about. Just let me walk you home, damn it.”

Well, when Kageyama put it like that… “We can’t just leave. They’re going to wonder where we disappeared off to.” _Like earlier_ , Tsukishima didn’t add.

Kageyama gave an exasperated sigh and looked around for someone. “Hey, Captain,” he called out. Said captain turned to Kageyama – and so did the rest of their team members present. Tsukishima felt uneasy. Somehow, the exchange was giving off major bad vibes. “I’m taking Tsukishima home.”

_Yup. There it is._

The reactions were instantaneous.

The captain’s eyes widened in disbelief, Yamaguchi gave Tsukishima that annoying knowing smile again, Nishinoya whooped and hollered, Sugawara gave two thumbs up, Asahi’s eyebrows shot to his forehead while Hinata’s eyebrows wiggled suggestively, Tanaka looked horrified, Narita and Kinoshita joined together to form a heart with their arms raised above their heads, and, finally, Ennoshita went around collecting money from everyone present.

Tsukishima silently wished that ‘death by mortification’ was a real thing. He wasn’t sure he could face any of his teammates again after this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. I love cliche rom-com scenes. No regrets here.


	20. Chapter 20

Surprisingly enough, walking back home with Kageyama wasn’t as awkward as Tsukishima imagined it would be. In fact, it was kind of… nice. Maybe he was feeling a lot more sentimental than usual because he hadn’t been home in a while and he was simply being nostalgic, but this – walking side by side with Kageyama at sunset with rice paddies stretched out before their eyes – made Tsukishima feel warm and comfortable, at ease in a way he hadn’t been for the past six years. His hands itched for his camera. Such a shame that he took photographs for a living and yet he couldn’t immortalize one of the moments that truly deserved it.

“…shima? Tsukishima?”

Tsukishima turned to his side and saw Kageyama looking at him with a troubled expression. “Uh, what?”

“I asked you when you’re coming back to Tokyo.” Kageyama stopped in his tracks to look at Tsukishima properly. “Are you sure you’re okay? You were zoned out.”

“No, I just remembered something I need to do when I get back to work.” Tsukishima lied. “As for your question, I’ll return to Tokyo tomorrow morning. How about you?”

“Wednesday.” There was a petulant look on Kageyama’s face. “I wanted to return as soon as possible but Manager Sasaki said I was training too much and told me to take a break. He said he’ll force me into a month-long vacation if I returned any sooner.”

Tsukishima snickered. He could almost imagine Kageyama complaining and then pouting like a child after being told to take a break. “I think you’re the only person I know who would complain about that. Most people would jump at the chance to take some time off, especially if their boss tells them to.”

“That’s true, but… I really missed playing volleyball.”

It took about two seconds for Tsukishima to realize what Kageyama just implied with that statement. Of course. It really shouldn’t be surprising that Kageyama was spending so much time on volleyball now considering he hadn’t been able to play for years because of his injury.

Unfortunately, as he was wont to do, Kageyama misinterpreted Tsukishima’s delayed response and quickly devolved into panic. “No, wait – I didn’t – I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad–” Kageyama flailed his arms around. “Please forget I said that.”

The sight of Kageyama panicking and flailing his arms around, scrambling for the right words to say to make sure Tsukishima didn’t get upset, was too much. Almost on reflex, Tsukishima reached out for both of Kageyama’s hands to stop the frantic moving. “Stop that. It’s fine. We can talk about your past injury like well-adjusted adults. We decided to start over, didn’t we?”

It was quite amusing for Tsukishima to see Kageyama’s expression morph from panic, to surprise, and finally, to realization. Kageyama settled down and lowered his hands. “You’re right. Sorry. Given our track record, I got worried you’d take it the wrong way.”

Tsukishima shook his head. “No apologies. It’s cool. _We’re_ cool.”

“Yeah, we are.” Kageyama said, almost in awe. He smiled and held Tsukishima’s gaze before letting it travel downwards to their still-intertwined hands. Realizing what Kageyama was looking at, Tsukishima immediately made a move to pull away but was stopped by Kageyama tightening his grip. He turned over Tsukishima’s hands so the palms were facing upward and caressed them with his thumbs. Tsukishima’s breath hitched. “I can hardly feel any calluses. You really haven’t played in a long time.”

Tsukishima swallowed. “Yes. I already told you the reason why.”

“You did.” Kageyama said off-handedly, his attention still focused on studying Tsukishima’s hands. “Hm?” Kageyama raised Tsukishima’s hands and guided them such that, this time, the palms were facing him. He then mirrored the position and rested his palms flat against Tsukishima’s. “Hm… just as I thought. Your hands are bigger than mine. Not by much, though. Maybe about a centimeter and a half.”

Kageyama seemed calm enough, as though they weren’t standing with their hands against each other’s and only a mere feet separating the two of them. Meanwhile, Tsukishima was caught in that weird state that was roughly a cross between panic and confusion, and using up practically his lifetime’s worth of self-control just to keep himself from sputtering like an idiot. Tsukishima felt a mild flash of irritation. He couldn’t let Kageyama keep affecting him like this.

Tsukishima tore his hands away from Kageyama’s. “What are you doing?” He forced the words out. Since that morning ( _No, it happened way before that, remember when you saw him half-naked in his apartment?_ Tsukishima’s brain needlessly added), Kageyama’s actions – heck, Kageyama’s _mere presence_ – had been doing strange things to him, making him act like a flustered, awkward teenager with a crush. Tsukishima did not enjoy that feeling. If anything, he was used to making other people flustered, not the other way around. He had to put an end to that.

“I was comparing our hand sizes.” Kageyama said matter-of-factly, ever slow to grasp the situation.

Tsukishima clicked his tongue. He closed the distance between him and Kageyama and wrapped his right hand around Kageyama’s nape, bringing the other’s face closer. He slightly lowered his head so his forehead was touching Kageyama’s and stared right into those freaking royal blue eyes. “No,” Tsukishima practically growled, “what are _you_ doing _to me_?”

Kageyama licked his lips. There was a glimmer of _something_ in his eyes but it was gone before Tsukishima could even name it. “I don’t get what you’re trying to say.” Kageyama said as he removed Tsukishima’s hand from its hold on him and stepped away. “Let’s go.” He turned around and resumed walking.

Tsukishima grit his teeth in annoyance. He was taking back what he said earlier about Kageyama being slow to grasp the situation because what the idiot just pulled was _obviously_ an evasive retreat. Kageyama understood what the situation was and ran away.

_Stupid Kageyama._

#

The worst thing about going on a vacation – no matter how short – was how difficult it was to go back to real life afterwards.

Tsukishima was back in Tokyo, and while he was feeling quite refreshed after spending an, admittedly, fun and relaxing weekend in Miyagi, he was having a hard time getting back into the humdrum routine of his daily life. He was _physically_ in Tokyo but it seemed as though he left his mind in Miyagi because try as he might, he couldn’t quite bring himself to concentrate on the here and now. Case in point, they just had an office-wide meeting about what to do for the next issue of their magazine and Tsukishima only had the vaguest idea what the discussion was about. His mind had been preoccupied for the most of it, preferring to recount images of a certain person’s boyish grin and irritatingly blue eyes, instead of paying attention to which stories should be covered in Sports Monthly’s next edition. Worst of all, his mind kept going back to that confrontation with Kageyama, where the idiot _ran away_ from him and left him feeling annoyed and frustrated.

Not for the first time, Tsukishima was able to convince himself that Kageyama was an absolute idiot whose main purpose in life was to annoy the heck out of him.

First, the idiot went around doing things that left Tsukishima breathless and flustered and just all-around _uncool_ , but when Tsukishima finally took the reins and confronted him about it, the damned idiot evaded the question. Seriously. What the hell.

#

Tsukishima’s mood shouldn’t have been that much of a concern if no one had noticed, but true to form, the ever observant and meddlesome Fujiwara took note of this unusually inattentive state and decided to call Tsukishima out on it the moment they were dismissed from the conference room. “You seem to be quite out of it today.” He said as he walked side by side with Tsukishima. “It’s like your mind is stuck somewhere else.”

Tsukishima grimaced. “What kind of nonsense are you spouting now?”

“Hmm…” Fujiwara paused and studied Tsukishima carefully. “Are you seeing someone?”

The only reason Tsukishima did not choke on his own spit was because that would be undignified. He came real close to it though. “Are you coming onto me, old man? Sorry but you’re not my type.”

Fujiwara crossed his arms across his chest and gave Tsukishima a disapproving look. “First of all, I’m not that old. I’m 35 for fuck’s sake. Second, I’m straight. And third, I only asked because you’re acting like you’re going through a lovers’ spat.”

Tsukishima’s expression darkened. “You’re really annoying me right now.”

“No offense but you find _everyone_ annoying _all the time_ , so that’s not exactly news to me.” Fujiwara let out a long-suffering sigh. “Okay, you know what? Whatever. Be in a bad mood as much as you like. I’m only here to deliver a message, anyway.”

Tsukishima cast a suspicious look at Fujiwara. “What do you need from me this time?”

“Don’t make me sound so opportunistic. It’s from the chief. She organized a dinner on Wednesday night with the Blue Falcons to celebrate the end of interviews and the magazine’s publication. Naturally, she wants you there because, according to her, the interview wouldn’t have happened without you, even if you got reassigned before it ended.”

Tsukishima didn’t spare it a second thought. “Sure, I’ll be there. Just send me the address to wherever it’s going to be held.” He couldn’t refuse even if he wanted to because if the chief wanted you to do something, you simply did it. Besides, this was a chance for him to corner Kageyama so even if he wasn’t too fond of work-related social gatherings, this wasn’t all that bad.

That idiot Kageyama better not run away from him this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all aren't too disappointed by this turn of events. I adore flustered tsukki and it's fun writing his reactions like that but let's be real, he's not the type to take this sitting down.
> 
> Also, if any of you are interested, I shared my personal playlist for this fic here: http://notquiteintoxicated.tumblr.com/post/152943697640/some-things-dont-change-a-playlist-by


	21. Chapter 21

“Cheers!”

Tsukishima reluctantly raised his glass along with everyone. What was that, the twelfth time now? Frankly, he was getting tired of it. “If the Falcons’ manager calls ‘cheers’ one more time, I may just hurl my glass towards him.” He hissed at Fujiwara, who was sitting across from him.

Fujiwara gave Tsukishima an indulgent smile. “Come on, you’ve been sulky since we arrived here. Enjoy yourself! Have some beer!”

“I can’t. I drove here.” Tsukishima said irately. He took a big gulp of his iced tea and tried to drown out the noise and fanfare around him. He directed his attention towards the far right corner of the table, where Kageyama sat in between Sports Monthly’s Chief and the Blue Falcons’ Vice Captain Ryuzaki.

The party was already rolling by the time Kageyama had arrived with that Ryuzaki hanging off of his shoulders, and upon seeing him, the chief immediately had him cornered and guided him towards the seat beside hers. Ryuzaki, without invitation, followed them and took the seat on Kageyama’s other side.

Tsukishima had been incredibly annoyed that Kageyama did not even spare him a glance. He had been looking forward to the dinner party as a chance to talk to Kageyama but as the night went on, Tsukishima was beginning to think that Kageyama was ignoring him on purpose. He had been trying to meet Kageyama’s eyes from across the table but the idiot was resolutely avoiding looking in his direction, and unfortunately, Tsukishima couldn’t even pretend to casually talk to him because given the distance between their seats (and the _noise_ , don’t forget the noise), he would have to shout to make himself heard.

Another gulp. At this rate, Tsukishima was going to spend the entire night downing glass after glass of subpar iced tea and glaring daggers at the back of Kageyama’s head.

“Bring it on, Manager Sasaki! I assure you I could drink half of your team under the table! Name the rest of your representatives!” The chief’s voice tore through.

Tsukishima turned to Fujiwara. “What’s going on?”

Fujiwara gave off an exasperated sigh. “The chief wanted to prove her drinking prowess by defeating Kageyama in a drinking game and Manager Sasaki said that that wouldn’t actually prove anything because Kageyama isn’t a very strong drinker. Apparently, the chief considered that a slight to her pride and is now demanding that Kageyama, along with nine of his teammates, compete against her.”

That definitely sounded like something their chief would do. Tsukishima resisted the urge to bury his head under the table. “Shouldn’t you stop her? There’s a very real threat of alcohol poisoning right there.”

“Would _you_ like to stop her when she gets like this?” Fujiwara asked incredulously. Tsukishima looked away and examined his nails. “I thought so. It’s better to let her be for now. I’ll step in later when she’s least likely to scratch my face off for intervening. I’m a bit worried about Kageyama, though. He doesn’t look like he could hold out much longer, which isn’t surprising because he’s sitting beside the chief and I’m sure she’s been plying him with alcohol non-stop this whole time.”

“How should I know?” Tsukishima said, sounding more bitter than he intended. “I’ve only ever seen the back of his head ever since he arrived.”

Fujiwara gave Tsukishima a questioning look. He was about to say something but was interrupted by the sound of utensils clattering to the floor.

Almost at the same time, Fujiwara and Tsukishima turned towards the direction of the sound and saw the chief standing up and blocking Ryuzaki’s way, who had a nearly passed out Kageyama slumped against his shoulder.

“Wa-wa-wait a minute, Ryuzaki!” The chief said. “Where do you think you’re going? You’re my next opponent after Kageyama!”

“Believe me, I would love to stay,” Ryuzaki said kindly, “but Kageyama’s down for the count and I think I should bring him home.”

As if on cue, Kageyama lost balance and threatened to topple over. Ryuzaki scrambled to offer support and ended up with Kageyama against his chest and both of his arms wrapped around Kageyama’s waist. They almost looked like they were hugging. Tsukishima bristled at the sight.

Ryuzaki turned a sheepish smile at the chief. “As you can see, I need to take care of this guy.”

Kageyama cupped both of Ryuzaki’s cheeks and forced the latter’s attention back on him. “Ryuzaki… home…”

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Ryuzaki looked fondly at Kageyama, “I’ll take you home soon.”

Tsukishima was out of his chair and standing in front of Ryuzaki in an instant. “Why don’t I take this troublesome guy off of your hands, huh? It would be such a shame for you to miss out on the drinking game because of this.” Tsukishima turned to his chief, hoping that even in her drunken state, she would offer him support. “Right, Chief? You defeated their genius setter so now you need to defeat their vice captain, don’t you?”

The chief slapped Tsukishima’s back. “This is why you’re my favorite, you bastard!” She turned to Ryuzaki. “See? Tsukishima gets it!”

“But, Kageyama…” Ryuzaki tried to protest, “I can’t just pass him off to anyone…”

“And that’s _exactly_ why you should let me handle this.” Tsukishima offered Ryuzaki a brittle smile. “Kageyama and I have known each other since high school. _I’ve got him_ , Ryuzaki.” Tsukishima reached for Kageyama’s arm. “Kageyama, come here. I’m taking you home.”

Kageyama’s face lit up the moment he turned around and saw Tsukishima. “Ah, Tsukki…”

Tsukishima had all of two seconds to feel jarred by the sudden use of his nickname before Kageyama all but pushed away from Ryuzaki and dove straight towards him.

Kageyama wrapped his arms around Tsukishima’s waist – mirroring the way Ryuzaki held him earlier – and buried his face against the crook of Tsukishima’s neck. “Tsukki...” He said against the skin there, “head hurts…”

He knew it wouldn’t do much to ease the headache but Tsukishima raised his hand and stroked Kageyama’s head all the same. He was still mildly irritated that Sober Kageyama ignored him earlier, but if Drunk Kageyama was going to be adorable like this then he was willing to move past that. “Well, who told you to drink so much?” Tsukishima admonished gently. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Fujiwara looking at him suspiciously but he found he didn’t care.

Kageyama’s hold tightened. “Not m’fault…” Tsukishima could almost feel Kageyama pouting against his skin. “Chief’s a haaarpy… y’said so…”

Tsukishima looked at his chief nervously. He didn’t think she heard that since Kageyama had been mostly mumbling against his neck but, given that Drunk Kageyama seemed to lack a filter, Tsukishima decided they should leave before the drunk idiot in his arms decided to say anything else that would incriminate him. “I think we should leave now.” He turned to Ryuzaki with a triumphant smirk (because Tsukishima Kei was nothing if not a gloating little shit). “Bye, Ryuzaki. Have fun with the drinking game.”

#

That night, Tsukishima found out that hauling a grown ass man up two flights of stairs was no easy feat – especially if said grown ass man refused to use his own weight to support himself and seemed to be particularly determined to hang off of you.

Tsukishima had never been so happy at seeing the door to his apartment and he breathed a huge sigh of relief the moment he sat Kageyama’s drunken ass down on his bed. “God, you’re heavy.” He said as he plopped on the bed beside Kageyama. He stretched his arms above his head before allowing himself to fall all the way down. “Ah, I’m tired. You’re a lot heavier than I expected.” Tsukishima looked up at Kageyama, who was peering down at him with an unreadable expression. “What?” He asked.

Kageyama moved without preamble and trapped Tsukishima between his legs. He positioned himself directly on top of Tsukishima, his hands resting on either side of the latter’s head to support his weight.

Not for the first time, Tsukishima was met with Kageyama’s intense gaze, but unlike those other times where he shied away from it, this one Tsukishima faced head on. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing right now?” The question was supposed to be a warning, but Tsukishima felt jittery with anticipation and the threat died in his throat. Kageyama’s eyes glimmered with that same _something_ that he briefly observed during their standoff in Miyagi and Tsukishima could name it now.

_Want._

Tsukishima held his breath as Kageyama closed the remaining distance between them.

Kageyama kissed Tsukishima with a strange sense of urgency. It was forceful and frantic and, honestly, everything Tsukishima thought kissing him would be. He coaxed Tsukishima’s mouth open with his tongue and dove in with fervor, tracing over Tsukishima’s lips and teeth as though he was trying to commit the feeling to memory.

Tsukishima leaned in and, with both hands, grabbed at the back of Kageyama’s head. He deepened the kiss and allowed Kageyama to explore his mouth with abandon, dragging Kageyama in deeper and deeper until their bodies pressed flushed against each other and he could feel Kageyama’s hardness against his leg.

Kageyama pulled away from the kiss and dove at Tsukishima’s neck. A moan escaped Tsukishima’s lips as he bit down. “Ah, fuck… Kageyama, you…” Tsukishima was cut off by Kageyama diving in for another kiss as his hands travelled downwards to undo Tsukishima’s belt.

Tsukishima’s brain snapped back to reality not long after that. He pushed Kageyama away and sat up. “Wait, Kageyama. Stop.” Kageyama looked back at him with a hurt expression and Tsukishima immediately felt like an asshole. “Ah, shit. No, wait – come here, you idiot.” He wrapped his arms around Kageyama and brought the latter in for a hug. “Whatever you’re thinking, that’s not it. I don’t hate you and I’m not regretting this.” He said soothingly. “It’s just that you’re very drunk right now and that’s not how I’d like to start things with you.” Tsukishima let go of the hug and caressed Kageyama’s cheek. “We’ll talk about this when you’re sober. For now, go to sleep.”

Kageyama reached for Tsukishima’s hand and gripped it tight. He looked so vulnerable and uncertain and Tsukishima could almost give in.

_But no, not like this._

As much as Tsukishima wanted to give in to his desire, he wouldn’t. Not when Kageyama wasn’t thinking straight. “Don’t worry. I’ll be here when you wake up.” He leaned in and kissed Kageyama gently on the lips. “I’m not going anywhere.”

#

Tsukishima couldn’t sleep. He laid wordlessly on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Beside him, Kageyama slept fitfully, curled on the side. He could feel Kageyama’s breath lightly ghosting over his cheek and he turned so he was facing Kageyama. “How the hell did this happen?” He asked Kageyama’s sleeping form.

Never in his wildest dreams did Tsukishima ever imagine something like this happening – finding himself lying beside Kageyama, watching the latter sleep as a thousand butterflies flitted through his stomach and left him feeling lightheaded and giddy.

Honestly, the feelings scared him at first. The first time Kageyama did something that left him breathless, Tsukishima’s first instinct was to run away, not because he didn’t like it but because him reacting that way to Kageyama was something so unexpected and surreal that he was convinced that he finally snapped and went crazy. A part of him also felt annoyed that Kageyama could elicit such reactions from him, could affect him so strongly, and yet remain so oblivious of it all. Of course, now Tsukishima had realized the horrifying truth that he may have been played. Kageyama had been the one to kiss him first, which meant that Kageyama did see him the same way, but was just better at hiding it (and wasn’t _that_ a revelation).

Tsukishima traced Kageyama’s jawline with his fingertips. Kageyama looked peaceful like this. Comfortable. Content. Blissfully unaware of the somersaults in Tsukishima’s stomach and of the pounding in his chest. Tsukishima leaned in and touched his forehead with Kageyama’s, recalling their position just a few days ago during their confrontation in Miyagi. “What are you doing to me?” Tsukishima whispered against Kageyama’s lips. Whereas a few days ago, the same question sounded angry and frustrated, this time it sounded wistful and amused. Hopeful, in a way. A ghost of a prayer that said, _‘whatever it is you’re doing, keep doing it.’_

Tsukishima inched closer and wrapped his arm around Kageyama. “You better not forget what happened when you wake up in the morning.” He said as he closed his eyes and finally drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uhm, that happened. Apologies for Tsukki being Kageyama's (and his own) cockblock but I hope you understand my reason for writing it this way. I didn't want them start things off with reckless drunken sex, you know?
> 
> Also, fyi, right now I'm not planning to write any explicit sex scenes in this story so the most you'll get is something like what you read in this chapter. If any sex scene is ever required by the plot, it would just be implied. I'll be sure to let you know if I ever change my mind about this but for now, that's how it's going to be. Sorry if you were expecting otherwise. :(
> 
> P.S. I think jealous tsukki is my favorite tsukki.


	22. Chapter 22

There was a rather conspicuous bite mark-shaped bruise on the junction where his shoulder met his neck, Tsukishima thought dejectedly as he stood in front of the bathroom mirror after taking a shower.

Not that he didn’t appreciate Kageyama’s show of enthusiasm the previous night, but Tsukishima would very much prefer if Kageyama left marks in places that weren’t as visible (like the inside of his thigh, for example). His co-workers were nosy enough to begin with, he didn’t need to give them more ammunition by showing up to work with hickeys and bite marks. Also, he needed to know if biting was Kageyama’s thing because he needed to mentally prepare himself for the possibility of living with bite marks peppering his skin in the foreseeable future.

Tsukishima got dressed (in the bathroom because Kageyama was still asleep in his bedroom) and stepped out. He headed towards the kitchen, where he already had the coffee maker running before taking his shower and a pot of coffee now waited for him. He poured himself a cup and set it on top of the dining table, letting it cool down to a more bearable temperature while he prepared the tamagoyaki. Afterwards, he went over to the refrigerator and took out some left over miso soup and rice for reheating, as well as a couple of oranges (he was a little disappointed to find out that he had run out of orange juice, hopefully, Kageyama wouldn’t mind).

With a decent enough meal prepared, Tsukishima finally allowed himself to sit on one of the stools by the dining table and enjoy his coffee as he waited for Kageyama to wake up. It was still only seven in the morning and he needed to get to work by ten, at the latest. He desperately hoped that Kageyama would wake up before he had to leave, though, because he really wanted to settle things between them as soon as possible.

If Kageyama didn’t wake up before then, Tsukishima would have to make do with leaving Kageyama with breakfast, a towel, and a change of clothes, plus a note telling him to lock up properly and call as soon as he was able – not exactly the most ideal of situations, as far as Tsukishima was concerned.

“I would really appreciate it if he woke up soon,” Tsukishima said to no one in particular. He took a sip from his coffee and reveled in the warm sunlight that passed through the open kitchen window. It was a beautiful morning.

# 

While on his second cup of coffee, Tsukishima finally heard it – the tell-tale sound of a long, remorseful groan, indicative of someone waking up with a hangover-induced headache. Taking that as his cue, Tsukishima got up from his chair and went to get a glass of water.

Glass in hand, Tsukishima pushed the bedroom door open, in time to see Kageyama rolling over in bed and attempting to bury his head under a pillow. Tsukishima chuckled. “That’s what you get for drinking more than you can handle.”

Kageyama squinted at Tsukishima from under the pillow. “What’re you doin’ here?” He slurred.

Tsukishima walked over and sat at the edge of the bed, just beside Kageyama. “Well, this is _my_ apartment.” He thrust the glass of water towards Kageyama. “Drink this. You’ll feel better.”

Perhaps because he was still dazed from sleep (not to mention battling a headache), Kageyama did as Tsukishima said without any protest. He sat up and took the glass. “So…” He started nervously after drinking, “Why am I in your apartment?”

Tsukishima’s eyebrow twitched. _If this idiot forgot…_ He took the glass back from Kageyama and put it on top of the bedside table. “You tell me.” He said with a smirk that clearly suggested that while he could very well spare Kageyama and just say what happened already, he wasn’t going to.

Kageyama scowled. “Do you always have to be this difficult?” He stared intently at Tsukishima, as if he thought he would find his answers there. His eyes slowly travelled downwards and stopped at Tsukishima’s neck. “Th-that thing… on your neck…”

“Oh, this?” Tsukishima feigned nonchalance. “What about it?”

Tsukishima wasn’t going to deny that it was incredibly amusing to see Kageyama’s eyes widen almost comically as realization slowly dawned on him. A vibrant splotch of red started spreading from his cheeks to the tip of his ears and he quickly covered his face in embarrassment. “Shit… last night, I…” He plopped back down on the bed and used one of the pillows to hide his face. “I thought it was a dream…” He said, his voice muffled by the pillow. “…I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For kissing you… attacking you like that…”

Kageyama’s voice sounded small and regretful and Tsukishima’s amusement from earlier immediately flew out the window. “You really are an idiot, aren’t you?” Tsukishima said, his tone fond (albeit a little exasperated). “Did you miss the part where I kissed you back?”

Kageyama was silent.

“You’re not going to say anything?” Tsukishima tugged at the pillow that Kageyama was using as a shield. “Hey, let me see your face.”

Kageyama still didn’t say anything and simply held on tighter to the pillow, preventing Tsukishima from taking it off.

Tsukishima stopped trying. “Do you regret it?” His voice was almost down to a whisper. “We can pretend it didn’t happen, if that’s what you want. I wouldn’t mind.” He lied. This was exactly why he stopped Kageyama last night. Imagine if he had let Kageyama go all the way while drunk and confused. There would be no going back from that. A couple of kisses, at least, would be easier to cast aside as a drunken fumble. _Just like this_ , he thought bitterly.

Silence, still.

Tsukishima bit his bottom lip. This was his answer. He had been hoping that this morning’s conversation would turn out differently, but apparently, he misjudged the situation. Who was he kidding? This was him and Kageyama. As if he could have expected anything more from the two of them. “I need to get to work,” he said, trying to keep his emotions out of his voice. “I made breakfast. It’s on the table, just pop it in the microwave if you’re hungry. You’re free to stay here until you feel better enough to leave, but don’t forget to lock up after.”

Tsukishima decided that there was no use staying there trying to talk if Kageyama was going to ignore him anyway. He turned away and made a move to get up from the bed, but he was immediately stopped by Kageyama reaching out and grabbing his wrist. Tsukishima held his breath.

“I don’t regret it.” Kageyama said.

He would deny it if Kageyama ever asked, but Tsukishima felt an overwhelming swell of hope at hearing those four words. It was almost pathetic. He would never hear the end of it if Yamaguchi ever found out. “You…” Tsukishima tried to keep his voice from trembling, “…just so you know, I’m not letting you take that back.”

“I’m not going to, but…” A rustle of movement was the only warning Tsukishima got before he felt Kageyama’s forehead against his nape. “You don’t hate me for what I did last night?”

“Again, which part of me kissing you back did you not understand?”

Kageyama was silent once more. Tsukishima worried if he had said something wrong.

“Hm? Kageyama? You okay back there?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just… let’s stay like this for a bit.”

Tsukishima leaned back so the back of his head was resting on top of Kageyama’s. “Okay. We can do that.”

#

“I never realized you knew how to cook.” Kageyama announced as he entered the kitchen. His hair was still slightly damp from his shower and he was wearing one of Tsukishima’s quarter-sleeved raglan shirts. He had always been stockier in build than Tsukishima so the shirt hugged his frame _just right_ and left Tsukishima’s throat feeling just a little bit dry.

Tsukishima cleared his throat to hide his reaction. “I had to learn. I live alone and I can’t simply live on takeout. That’s unhealthy.”

Kageyama walked over to the dining table and sat on the stool across from Tsukishima. “So, you always cook breakfast like this?”

“No. When I’m alone, I usually just have a cup of coffee.”

“Really?” Kageyama seemed surprised. “Then… you cooked this because I’m here?”

Tsukishima gave Kageyama a look that clearly showed how impressed he was with that question – which was _not at all_. “What do you think.”

“That’s…” With the look on Kageyama’s face, one would think Tsukishima just offered him the world on a platter. “Thank you.”

Tsukishima didn’t think preparing breakfast for Kageyama was something to write home about. The extent of his thoughts when he did it was simply making sure Kageyama had something to eat (because hangover and an empty stomach were not a good combination). It shouldn’t be the subject of such awe. “It’s just eggs. It’s not a big deal.” He swiftly changed the subject. “Anyway, what do time do you need to be at training?”

“It’s free training day so we’re allowed to come in anytime.” Kageyama took a piece of tamagoyaki and brought it to his mouth.

“Okay, I’ll drop you off before I head to work. Also, you’ve got something–” Tsukishima reached out to remove a bit of egg stuck on the corner of Kageyama’s mouth, “–right here.”

Tsukishima only realized what he had done when Kageyama’s face turned an impressive shade of red. “I could have removed it myself!”

Kageyama had a point and Tsukishima wasn’t exactly thinking when he did it (he did it on impulse was that such a crime), but really, like with the breakfast, Kageyama was overreacting and making things a lot more awkward than they should be. “You stuck your tongue down my throat last night and _this_ is what you get embarrassed about.”

“T-that’s–you don’t…” Kageyama sputtered indignantly. “Why are you like this…”

Tsukishima sighed. He pushed off of his chair and moved to stand behind Kageyama. “You–” He wrapped his arms around Kageyama’s shoulders and rested his chin on top of Kageyama’s head. “–are way too tense. Would it kill you to relax a bit? You’re making this awkward for the both of us.”

Tsukishima felt Kageyama gradually relax in his hold. “You’re right. Sorry. I’m just not used to… you know.”

Tsukishima let go and made Kageyama turn around so they were facing each other. “What?”

“Being like this with you.” Kageyama sounded embarrassed as he said that. He turned his face away and wouldn’t meet Tsukishima’s eyes.

Tsukishima couldn’t help but smile. He had the exact same thoughts just last night and he could definitely sympathize with Kageyama. This was entirely new territory for them both. “Neither am I, but you don’t see me acting like I’m walking on hot coals or something equally ridiculous.” Well, at least not anymore. He did panic the night before but Kageyama didn’t need to know that. “This might be unexpected coming from me, but…” He reached out and turned Kageyama’s face towards him. “Let’s not overthink this, yeah?”

Kageyama stayed motionless and simply stared at Tsukishima for a while until, finally, he leaned in for a kiss. It was gentle and chaste. An assurance, more than anything. “Yeah, okay. We can do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to think of Tsukki as the type of person who does these little thoughtful gestures for people he cares about (sometimes unconsciously) but then tries extra hard to act nonchalant when he’s called out on it.
> 
> Also, two things you need to know about me:  
> 1) Back hugs are my aesthetic  
> 2) I am only capable of writing tooth-rotting fluff


	23. Chapter 23

Once upon a time, Tsukishima was able to spend every coffee and lunch break in peace. The spot of his choice – the bench by the vending machine with gross coffee – was located at a relatively secluded area that wasn’t usually frequented by anyone else at the office, save for him. For the longest time, Tsukishima was assured that if he wanted peace and solitude, he could go to that place and he would have it.

Now, however, that was simply a thing of the past.

Tsukishima would concede that, in hindsight, the ‘special assignment’ Chief assigned to him from what seemed like ages ago turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It was, after all, what brought him and Kageyama together. However, if there was one side effect of that special assignment that did not sit well with him, it was the fact that his usual spot now had a recurring infestation in the form of Fujiwara.

“Why are you here again?” Tsukishima asked the moment he arrived at _his spot_ for lunch and found Fujiwara already sitting at the lone bench there.

Fujiwara lightly waved his hand, calling attention to the cigarette held between his fingers. “I just had lunch so I’m having a smoke.”

“Yes, but what I meant was, why are you doing that _here_?”

“I like it here. It’s peaceful.”

“Not when you’re around.”

Fujiwara looked at Tsukishima as though trying to make sense of him. “I thought if you got laid you’d be less prickly. Apparently not.”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “You’re spouting nonsense again.”

Fujiwara gave Tsukishima an unimpressed look. “Oh, please. Don’t deny it. Kageyama practically wrapped himself around you last night, then you went home with him, and now, you come to work with that bite mark on your neck–” Tsukishima’s eyes widened ever so slightly at that, “–relax, I don’t think anyone else saw – but anyway, I can put two and two together, especially since I had witnessed the obvious sexual tension between the two of you firsthand.”

“It’s not what you think.” Tsukishima stifled a sigh. Fujiwara had always been too observant for his liking, and while he normally wouldn’t care about anyone finding about his preferences, he wasn’t sure if it was the same for Kageyama who was constantly in the public eye. Besides, Fujiwara’s conclusion wasn’t even correct. He and Kageyama did sleep together but definitely not in the manner Fujiwara was thinking of.

“Hey, I’m not judging. I’m simply stating an observation.”

“And I’m saying that you’re wrong. I did take Kageyama home with me but we didn’t sleep together, if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

“The bite mark?”

“None of your business.” Tsukishima said with finality.

“Hm. Okay.” Fujiwara inhaled from his cigarette and blew out a puff of smoke. “I’m happy for the both of you.”

Tsukishima gave Fujiwara the stink-eye.

Fujiwara raised his hands in front of him in a gesture to placate Tsukishima. “I was being sincere, but if you don’t want to talk about it, fine. I won’t push.”

“There’s nothing for us to talk about because it has nothing to do with you, but–” Tsukishima’s mind jumped back to the memory of that arrogant jerk Yamazaki Jun taunting him with the rumors about Kageyama. _‘They say he bats for the other team. Or, since he plays volleyball, let’s just say he sets from the other side of the court,_ ’ Yamazaki had said. Fujiwara didn’t seem like that kind of person, but Tsukishima couldn’t be too sure. Never. Not in this industry. “–whatever you think you know, keep it to yourself. This is Kageyama’s life, not some exclusive scoop for you to dispense with as you please.”

Fujiwara inhaled on the last of his cigarette. “I know you never pay attention to the things I say but, just to remind you, I told you before that I have standards. I’m never going to do anything like that.” He let his spent cigarette drop to the ground and promptly crushed it with the heel of his shoe. “Although, a word of caution from someone who’s been in this industry long enough – more and more people would want to uncover all of Kageyama’s secrets now, and not just about his sexual preferences. I never did get the story about the injury but I’d bet my right arm that someone out there is still desperately trying to uncover that. For Kageyama’s sake, I hope it’s nothing scandalous.”

While Tsukishima would have loved to be contrary on principle, he found that he actually had nothing to say to refute that. Fujiwara was right on all accounts. “…Yeah, I know.” He reluctantly agreed as a sudden gust of wind rustled the leaves hanging above their heads.

# 

When Tsukishima returned to his desk, he found that a copy of their magazine’s latest issue had been left there with a sticky note on top.

_‘The magazine with the FIRST EVER interview with Kageyama Tobio is finally here! I’m sure he’d love to see it so please deliver this copy to him ASAP (by which I mean, NOW). I’m counting on you! (P.S. You know you’re my favorite, right?) –C’_

Tsukishima scoffed at the post script. As if being the Chief’s favorite was any cause for celebration. If anything, it only meant that she picked on him more (although, she did tend to be a bit more lenient in approving his leave requests). Not that Tsukishima felt particularly opposed to what she asked him to do, of course. On the contrary, he was on board with it. Very much so. He briefly worried that he was turning into one of those saps who couldn’t go by one day without seeing their significant other but, well… his earlier conversation with Fujiwara left him with a vague feeling of unease and seeing Kageyama just might calm him down and settle his nerves.

Tsukishima peeled the sticky note off before putting the magazine inside his bag. He crumpled the note and tossed it into the trash bin on his way out. He had a volleyball player to visit.

# 

Even for someone with Tsukishima’s impressive sense of direction, navigating the Blue Falcons Training Complex still proved to be a challenge. He had only ever been to the training complex once and, for the life of him, he couldn’t remember how to get to the volleyball gym. When he told Kageyama that he was coming to the training complex, they had agreed to meet at the gym, but how was he supposed to get there again? Was he supposed to take a left after passing the players’ dormitory or keep going straight?

Tsukishima took his phone out and sent a message to Kageyama. _‘Hey, I’m outside the dorms. How do I get to the gym from here? Should I turn left?’_

Kageyama’s reply arrived soon enough. _‘Just wait there. I’ll come for you.’_

Tsukishima typed out a quick _‘okay’_ and, not even five minutes after he sent it, he saw Kageyama already approaching from the distance. “That was fast,” he said when Kageyama finally reached him. Now that they were standing face to face, Tsukishima could see that Kageyama’s training clothes were soaked with sweat. “You were in the middle of training, weren’t you? Sorry for interrupting.”

“It’s fine. I was planning to return to my room for a shower, anyway. I’m done for the day.”

Tsukishima checked his watch, which showed that it wasn’t even two o’clock yet. Not that he was meddling with Kageyama’s training schedule, but ending the day’s training this early seemed rather uncharacteristic for the guy. “Isn’t it a little early for that?”

“That’s exactly what I told Manager Sasaki, but he said it defeats the purpose of free training if I’m going to treat it like an ordinary training day and finish at an ungodly hour.” Kageyama’s expression morphed into a petulant pout. “I don’t even know what ungodly hour he’s talking about. I usually wrap things up an hour or two after midnight.”

Tsukishima knew for a fact that despite already being a genius at volleyball, Kageyama still trained harder than just about anyone. That was one of the slightly annoying but ultimately impressive things about him. However, just this once, Tsukishima would have to side with Manager Sasaki. Kageyama had been suffering from a major injury until just a few years ago, after all.

“Your manager has a point. Resting should be part of your regimen. Knowing you, you probably train more than enough already. Also, how determined are you to kill yourself? Finishing training at 2 a.m. is a perfect example of ‘ungodly hour’ if I’ve ever seen one, and I suppose you do that every day, don’t you?”

“Not every day. Maybe two, three times a week.” Kageyama gave Tsukishima a meaningful look. “I know what you’re getting at. You don’t have to say it. I’m being careful and I’m not going to overwork myself into another injury like before. You–” A faint blush bloomed on Kageyama’s face, “–you don’t have to worry.”

A knot in Tsukishima’s stomach (one he didn’t even realize he had) loosened at Kageyama’s words. Worry. That was what he felt, huh? For someone who professed to be rather apathetic about things that did not concern his own person, the thought of Kageyama pushing so hard with training and getting injured again because of it had quite the effect on him. If he ever needed any proof that what he felt for Kageyama ran deeper than mere physical attraction then this was probably it.

Tsukishima laughed despite himself. Who knew that realizing he cared for Kageyama more than he ever liked to admit would feel this blissful?

“Are you laughing at what I said?” Kageyama probably intended for that to sound annoyed but he just ended up sounding vaguely embarrassed.

“No, I just – well, I guess it’s fine if you’re being careful. Although, training until morning has got to be harmful in the long run.”

Kageyama scratched at the back of his neck – a now familiar gesture that told Tsukishima that he was either shy or nervous. “From now on, I’ll… I’ll stop training before midnight. I promise.”

Kageyama’s eyes met his and Tsukishima was stunned at what he saw there. The words went unsaid but he understood anyway. _I don’t want to make you worry,_ Kageyama seemed to say, and if that wasn’t proof enough of whatever affection Kageyama felt for him then Tsukishima didn’t know what was. Tsukishima grinned. “I would kiss you right now but you’re all sweaty and probably sticky and gross so… how about we go inside and you take that shower?”


	24. Chapter 24

Kageyama’s room at the Falcons’ dormitory was about as sparsely decorated as his apartment and Tsukishima briefly wondered if Kageyama had always been like this or if his current lifestyle simply did not allow him the luxury of having a lot of personal items.

The room itself was simple. There was a twin size bed on one corner – just below the window overlooking the running grounds below – and beside it was a small desk, on top of which stood an electronic lamp and a couple of sports magazines scattered about. Off to the far corner was a door leading to a small bathroom where Kageyama was currently taking his shower.

Tsukishima had been expecting something a little more ostentatious, given the sheer extravagance of the Falcons training complex, so he had been mildly surprised – and pleasantly so – to see that the dorm rooms were nothing out of the ordinary. He lounged on the bed as he waited for Kageyama, flipping through the copy of Sports Monthly’s latest issue that he brought with him.

The cover photo for this issue – taken by Tsukishima’s replacement photographer, Kurokawa – was a group shot of the entire Blue Falcons Team glaring menacingly into the camera while clad in their volleyball uniforms. Tsukishima found it decent enough, if a little plain and typical. If he were the one who took the cover photo, he would have opted for something a little more edgy and eye-catching. Although, he wasn’t really in any position to be complaining since he was the one who asked to be reassigned at the last minute (of course, now he knew how stupid of a decision that had been). He would have to admit that the action photos taken by Kurokawa during the Falcons’ training sessions definitely stood out, though.

The articles were well-written too. Even if Fujiwara was nosy and annoying most of the time, the guy did have the redeeming trait of being a consistently good writer. Tsukishima particularly liked how Fujiwara handled the story of Kageyama’s middle school volleyball career, taking care to show the _real_ story behind the ‘King of the Court’ nickname (and how Fujiwara was able to wrangle that story out of Kageyama, Tsukishima would have to find out later) without vilifying Kageyama and simply dismissing him as an arrogant prodigy with an over-inflated ego (like teenaged Tsukishima had been wont to do all those years ago). Fujiwara was able to show how Kageyama grew up from being a misunderstood and rather immature genius into a real team player who valued bringing out the best in his teammates above all else.

“Is that the magazine with the Falcons?” Came Kageyama’s voice from the direction of the bathroom. He just stepped out of the shower wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and a towel hung around his bare shoulders, reminiscent of how he looked that one time Tsukishima went to his apartment. Droplets of water fell from his still damp hair and travelled down from his neck to his exposed chest.

Tsukishima choked on air. He was convinced that one of these days he was going to die from forgetting how to breathe properly and it would all be Kageyama’s fault. He stood up and stalked towards Kageyama, leaving the magazine lying forgotten on the bed. He stopped when there was barely an inch between them and leaned down to whisper into Kageyama’s ear. “Are you doing this on purpose?” He asked, dropping his voice a few octaves for good measure. He heard Kageyama’s breath catch and he smiled to himself, glad to know that he was able to make Kageyama react to him the same way.

“Doing what on purpose?” Kageyama asked in return. He obviously knew what Tsukishima was talking about but pretended not to just to make things difficult.

Tsukishima inched closer. “That’s how you want to play it, huh?” He licked the shell of Kageyama’s ear and felt the latter shudder. “Don’t blame me.” He said as he traced kisses down Kageyama’s neck, stopping at the crook where neck met shoulder. Tsukishima smiled to himself. _There’s an idea._

“Hngh…!” Kageyama let out a strangled gasp as Tsukishima bit down.

“That’s payback for last night.” Tsukishima stepped back to admire his work, after which, he made his way back to the bed and sat down, ignoring the indignant look Kageyama was throwing him.

Kageyama quickly closed the steps between them and Tsukishima let his body go limp as Kageyama grabbed at his shoulders and pushed him down on the bed. When Tsukishima looked up, he saw Kageyama staring down at him with a dark, intense hunger swimming just beneath those eyes. They stayed like that for a while, staring at each other with bated breath, silent and motionless, as though the slightest of movements would break the tension in the air and shatter the spell they found themselves under.

A few drops of water from Kageyama’s damp hair landed on Tsukishima’s face.

Tsukishima inhaled sharply before finally giving in. He reached for the towel hanging from Kageyama’s neck and pulled the latter down, letting their lips meet in a long, searing kiss that left both of them short of breath and panting.

This time, when Kageyama’s hands traveled down to undo Tsukishima’s belt, Tsukishima didn’t stop him.

#

By the time Tsukishima woke up from his nap, it was already sunset. Kageyama must have removed his glasses when he fell asleep because apart from being able to recognize the faint orange glow of his surroundings, Tsukishima could hardly see a thing. He could tell he was alone in bed, though, due to the distinct lack of the Kageyama-shaped lump beside him. He blindly fumbled around, trying to feel out where his glasses were.

“They’re beside the pillow, right there on the corner,” Tsukishima heard Kageyama say.

Reaching for the spot Kageyama indicated, Tsukishima finally grabbed hold of his glasses and put them on. He turned to his side and found Kageyama – already dressed – sitting cross-legged on the chair by the desk and leafing through the Sports Monthly magazine. The chair had been repositioned so it was facing the bed and, consequently, Tsukishima.

“Were you watching me sleep?” Tsukishima asked teasingly.

“Don’t flatter yourself. I was busy reading this.” Kageyama waved the magazine in his hand. “It came out better than I expected.”

“What can I say? We Sports Monthly staff are good at our jobs.”

“I guess agreeing to give your magazine my very first interview was a good decision.” Kageyama said with a smirk.

Tsukishima was quick to catch on the double meaning. “In more ways than one.” He stretched languidly on the bed and sat up, letting the blanket fall to his hips. Only then was he reminded that he was still naked. “Ugh, where did you throw my clothes?”

Kageyama pointed to the far end of the room, where Tsukishima’s now neatly folded clothes lay on top of a small side table. Tsukishima threw the blankets off of him and got up from the bed. Kageyama followed his every move.

“You sure are comfortable walking around naked in my presence.” Kageyama pointed out.

Tsukishima gave Kageyama a _look_ – the one that said _‘are you serious?’_ – before turning back to reach for his clothes. “Are you saying I should act shy and pretend you haven’t seen it all just a while ago?”

“No, but I do feel like you’re doing it deliberately and… well, I would like to get something else done before this day ends, apart from staying in bed and having sex so, you know. Don’t tempt me.”

The straightforwardness of it all startled a laugh out of Tsukishima. “Wow, you sure have come a long way from being flustered when I removed a piece of egg from your face.”

Kageyama’s cheeks colored at that. In the years they had known each other, Tsukishima had never noticed that Kageyama was quick to blush. Now that he was aware of it, though, he was having fun discovering all the things he could say and do that would elicit that reaction.

“I’m just following your advice. You said we should act naturally and not overthink.” Kageyama said defensively. “Anyway, stop teasing and get dressed already so we could leave.”

“Where are we going?”

“First, we’re going to drop by the store to buy some ingredients and then we’re heading back to your place.”

Tsukishima paused midway through pulling his jeans up. “Ingredients for what?”

“Ah, well…” Kageyama scratched at the back of his head. _Again_. Seriously, that mannerism was such a huge tell Tsukishima wondered if Kageyama was even aware he had it. “I wanted to cook dinner for you since you prepared breakfast for me and all.”

Tsukishima was torn between three things. First, he was kind of exasperated that Kageyama just wouldn’t let the breakfast thing go (how many times did Tsukishima have to say that it wasn’t a big deal?) but, second, the fact that Kageyama offered to cook for him made him just a little bit too happy that he was almost embarrassed to admit it. The most important concern, however, was the third thing – and that was the one that Tsukishima voiced out. “You can cook?”

Kageyama seemed slightly offended by that. “I’m not entirely useless. I could manage a simple meal.”

“Hey, I wasn’t implying anything. I was just surprised.” Tsukishima finished buttoning his shirt up. “I’m done here. Let’s go?”

Kageyama stood up from the chair and picked up a duffel bag from under the table. He passed by Tsukishima and opened the door. “If you say anything about my cooking, I’m going to throw you out. Even if it’s your apartment.” He said before stepping out of the room.

“I’ll try not to say anything then.” Tsukishima said as he followed Kageyama. He wouldn’t say it but the thought that Kageyama wanted to cook for him was more than enough that even if he was served with burnt overly salty food, he would probably still eat it.

Maybe.

#

If asked to objectively describe the food Kageyama made, Tsukishima would say that it was decent. Edible. It wasn’t bad such that Tsukishima would actively refuse to eat it but it wasn’t anything extraordinary either. From a purely objective point of view, the meal was nothing exceptional. Still, none of those things changed the fact that, for Tsukishima, it was one of the most special meals he had ever eaten.

Okay, he was turning into a sap.

Tsukishima picked up his last bit of meat and stood up to gather the plates. “I’ll do the dishes. Can’t make the guest do all the work.”

“No, I want to help.” Kageyama stood up as well and headed over to the sink before Tsukishima could protest. “You wash them and I’ll do the drying.”

Kageyama looked strangely determined about wanting to dry the dishes and, not wanting to turn something as mundane as _washing dishes_ into a discussion, Tsukishima simply sighed and let Kageyama do as he wished.

Tsukishima brought the dirty plates to the sink and turned the faucet on. Rinse, lather, wash. Hand over to Kageyama for drying. Repeat. They worked in comfortable silence until the last plate was cleaned and placed on the rack. Tsukishima turned the faucet off and Kageyama handed him a kitchen towel to dry his hands with.

“I’m staying the night,” Kageyama said, “if you don’t mind, that is.”

Tsukishima had not been expecting that. Not that he had plans to make Kageyama leave after dinner, he just wasn’t expecting that Kageyama would be the first to say something about staying over. _Then again…_ Tsukishima remembered the duffel bag that Kageyama brought. Come to think of it, the bag was big enough for someone to pack a set of clothes in and…

_Oh._

Damn it, Kageyama was adorable.

#

That night, Tsukishima learned three things: one, shower sex was amazing, two, Kageyama liked to sleep on the right side of the bed and was a very clingy sleeper, and three, apparently, he didn’t mind being the little spoon if Kageyama was the one hugging him from behind.

Tsukishima’s last thought before drifting off to sleep was that he could get used to this.

Of course, he had no way of knowing then that this was simply the calm before the storm.

#

It was two weeks later, on a rather unassuming day, when everything went to shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in case you haven't noticed, domesticity is my kink.
> 
> as for the end of this chapter tho......... ~~haha don't kill me pls~~
> 
> p.s. sorry if i haven't been able to reply to your comments. i've just been really busy (i've actually been writing the past few chapters on my phone during my daily commute orz) however please know that i read and appreciate all of your comments and i would get back to replying to those once i have more time on my hands! as always, THANK YOU!! ^^


	25. Chapter 25

**_BLUE FALCONS' KAGEYAMA TOBIO, FORMER DELINQUENT?_ **

**_KAGEYAMA TOBIO'S VIOLENT PAST REVEALED!_ **

_“…five-year absence due to a major knee injury obtained in a violent altercation six years ago, where he permanently injured another high school player, named ‘M’, ending M’s volleyball career…”_

_“…concerns about Kageyama’s reported delinquent background and possible ties to the underground…”_

_“…questionable character of one of their most renowned athletes draws question to the integrity of the Blue Falcons Men’s Volleyball Team – and the League, in general…”_

**_User17290:_ ** _how horrible! I really liked him! To think he was actually like this… I’m disappointed…_

 **_User34861:_ ** _honestly I’m not surprised… I’ve heard about him back in middle school… they said he was kicked out of a game because he was being an asshole to his teammates…_

 **_User12875:_ ** _everyone is just overreacting… it was a fight between high schoolers, it’s not like those things don’t happen regularly… besides, he himself got injured and wasn’t able to play for five years…_

 **_User54178:_ ** _yes he was injured but a rich CEO paid for his surgery and therapy and now he’s a bigshot pro – all because he’s a genius! what about that other kid he injured who’s no longer able to play and didn’t have someone to pay for his rehab? Kageyama ruined that other kid’s life!_

 **_User74289_** _: that’s right! this guy gets away with this shit because he’s some genius or whatever, while the ordinary guys have to suffer… injustice! I hope this guy’s career is ruined… better yet, I hope he gets injured permanently so he knows how the other guy feels!_

Tsukishima shut his laptop forcefully. He had never been one for violence but reading what those people had to say about Kageyama made him feel like hurting something. Those people knew nothing – nothing about the injury, nothing about who Kageyama really was – and yet they had the audacity to run their mouths off and say all those things. Tsukishima was familiar with this world, this industry, and he knew perfectly well how nasty people could get whenever someone got embroiled in a scandal, but knowing something in theory and observing it happening to someone else far removed from yourself was entirely different from seeing it happen to someone close to you – someone you cared about.

If he felt this sick to his stomach at reading those articles and seeing those comments, he could only imagine what Kageyama was feeling.

When Fujiwara called him that morning, Tsukishima had been pissed at being woken up at six am on a Sunday, but after he heard what Fujiwara had to say, his anger immediately turned into dread.

It took a while for Tsukishima to process what Fujiwara had been saying but when he did, the realization was like a pound of lead being dropped onto him. Fujiwara had continued babbling on in the background but he couldn’t make out what the other was saying because it had been muffled by the sound of static ringing in his ears. His heart hammered loudly in his chest, as if attempting to burst out, and he had wanted nothing more than to wake up and realize that this was all some weird dream his tired brain came up with.

No such luck.

This was all real and no amount of denial or wishful thinking on Tsukishima’s part could change it.

# 

_The number you dialed is currently out of service. Please try again later._

_The number you dialed is currently out of service. Please try again later._

_The number you dialed is currently out of service. Please try again later._

_The number you dialed is currently out of service. Please try again later._

_The number you dialed is currently out of service. Please try ag–_

“Fuck!” Tsukishima hurled his phone across the room, hitting the wall with an audible crack before landing on the carpeted floor. He had been trying to call Kageyama so many times since that morning that he legitimately lost count but his calls had not been able to connect even once.

Tsukishima understood – or at least, a part of his brain did. This was a typical response to a scandal of this magnitude. Probably all the reporters in the city wanted to reach Kageyama and turning the phone off was a logical thing to do. Unfortunately, despite being logical, it was also terribly inconvenient because now even Tsukishima was cut off. The phone of Kageyama’s agent was also out of service. So was Manager Sasaki’s. Kageyama’s apartment was a no go because Tsukishima knew for a fact that Kageyama was currently staying at the Falcon dorms, and going to the dorms to see Kageyama was impossible because a bunch of reporters had camped outside the Falcons training complex and it was currently on lock down.

Basically, Tsukishima had no way of talking to Kageyama right now when he most _needed_ to. How was he even supposed to know how Kageyama was doing? How was Kageyama dealing with all this? Was Kageyama okay? Was Kageyama holding up? Tsukishima didn’t even _know_ and that thought frayed at his nerves. Kageyama could be wallowing in misery and self-blame or having some other kind of pathetic reaction and Tsukishima wouldn’t have the faintest idea.

Tsukishima ran his hands over his face in frustration.

He couldn’t do anything for Kageyama.

# 

The situation come Monday morning was not that much different – save for the fact that it was definitely worse.

One way or another, the totally made-up story about Kageyama’s delinquent background and questionable character gained traction even on television and, because the world was even more pathetic than Tsukishima originally gave it credit for, self-proclaimed experts and other people with an inflated sense of self-importance and influence thought it was their duty to discuss Kageyama’s merits (or lack thereof) as a role model for the youth, as though it was a topic of national importance.

_“…doesn’t matter if he’s a ‘prodigy’ or a ‘genius’ or whatever other fancy name they come up with, that shouldn’t excuse this kind of behavior…”_

_“…no amount of talent should justify these kinds of actions from someone who’s supposed to be a role model for our children…”_

_“…imagine a high schooler doing that to another kid of the same age… a permanent injury that ended the other kid’s volleyball aspirations… what a horrible thing…”_

_“…think about the message this sends out to the youth… that you can get away with terrible behavior and delinquency and violence if you have exceptional talent… this is not the message we want to send…”_

Honestly, Tsukishima tried to tune out most of the garbage they were saying because if he let those things get to him he might just destroy the television in the office conference room with his bare hands.

The operative word being _try_ because Tsukishima couldn’t actually take it anymore.

“With all due respect, Chief,” Tsukishima called out, “but is there a reason why we’re all here in the conference room watching this pathetic excuse for morning news, instead of, I don’t know, actually _working_?”

One could probably hear a pin drop in the silence that followed.

The chief smiled at Tsukishima. It was sharp and chilling and had way more teeth than goodwill. “Come again?”

The chief’s voice was cold and emotionless and her eyes had that familiar glint of something unknown but undeniably dangerous. Any other day, that should have been enough to make Tsukishima stop pushing his luck and just _back off_ but Tsukishima was angry and tired and he just couldn’t be bothered.

“I asked why we’re watching this garbage instead of working.”

From behind the chief, Tsukishima could see Fujiwara repeatedly gesturing at his neck and mouthing the words, _‘cut it out.’_

“I don’t like the tone of your voice, Tsukishima.”

“Well, sorry, Chief.” Tsukishima said in a way that was most definitely not sorry. “I just don’t understand why it was necessary to call everyone here to watch that stupidity unfold on television.”

There was a collective sharp intake of air from everyone else in the room.

“You’re being unprofessional.” The chief said. She was obviously trying to hold her temper in. “I get that you’re affected because you’re friends with Kageyama but I’m not going to stand for that. If this were about any other athlete you would sit there and not care even if that person’s entire family is being cursed at, but because it’s Kageyama, you’re throwing a tantrum in my conference room. I’m not going to accept that. This is _the story_ right now and we need to get in on it. We have to know what’s going on and what people are saying so we know what we’re going to do, so either you sit there and shut up or you can get out.”

Tsukishima didn’t need to be told twice. He loudly scraped his chair across the floor as he pushed it backwards. “I can’t stand to watch that drivel anyway.” He stood up and headed out the door, indifferent to the horrified stares behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note on Tsukishima cursing:
> 
> We all know that Tsukki is well-spoken and speaks politely even when he's being an ass, but if you have noticed, I've made him act out of character by cursing (out loud or just in his head) in several instances in this story (including in this chapter).
> 
> The reason for that is because I wanted to show that a certain situation has made him out of his depth or emotionally compromised. Such as during the hospital scene when they found out about Kageyama's injury, during the confrontation in Kageyama's apartment, when Kuroo talked to him about acknowledging one's emotions, when he realized that he found Kageyama adorable or when Kageyama was looking at him with intense eyes, when Kageyama ran away from their confrontation in Miyagi, when he pushed Kageyama away the first time they kissed and he immediately regretted it, etc. (actually in a lot of these Kageyama is somehow involved) anyway, I hope you get my drift. :P


	26. Chapter 26

At the back of Tsukishima’s mind, an annoying nagging voice told him that what the chief said wasn’t entirely false.

This wasn’t the first time he witnessed a famous athlete or celebrity getting embroiled in a controversy, and when something like this happened in the past, Tsukishima would be one of the people ganging up on that person like hungry vultures, hoping to get a photo or a statement or whatever information they could get their hands on so as not fall behind in terms of covering the story. That was simply how it worked and the chief was right. If this were any other athlete and not Kageyama, Tsukishima would probably even be one of the photographers camping outside the Falcons Training Complex right now.

The chief had a point in calling him out on this hypocrisy and it was adding onto Tsukishima’s frustration, however, the chief had also been wrong in assuming that the only reason he was angry was because it was Kageyama facing this scandal. The chief didn’t know that the reason for his anger was, largely, due to the fact that the story about Kageyama wasn’t even true.

Save for the information about Kageyama’s injury and subsequent recovery thanks to the Falcons’ CEO, everything else people had written about Kageyama was founded on baseless assumptions and plenty of half-truths and that was what really got Tsukishima on edge. All of these people were just spouting lies and not even bothering to verify their stories before repeating it and, inadvertently, shaping the public’s negative opinion of Kageyama.

Worst of all, Kageyama’s camp had been incredibly silent through all this. For a team with money and machinery like the Blue Falcons, Tsukishima would have expected a swift response to set the record straight and a subsequent crackdown on all the people slandering one of their players. To think that more than a day had passed since the story about Kageyama broke out and neither Kageyama nor any representative from the Blue Falcons had yet to release a statement. If Kageyama came out and said that he was caught in that fight in defense of a teammate, they could rightly sway the people’s opinion of him from being a violent delinquent to a loyal friend – that was the truth anyway.

What did Kageyama hope to achieve by keeping quiet about all this?

# 

The chief tapped her long nails against the wooden surface of her table as she regarded Tsukishima with an unreadable expression. She had, unsurprisingly, summoned Tsukishima to her office after she adjourned the meeting at the conference room.

“So, this morning,” Chief began, “What was that about?”

“You said it yourself, Chief. I’m angry about what’s happening.”

“This isn’t your first time, Tsukishima. This isn’t the first time we’re covering a high-profile scandal, but this is the first time you’ve had such a strong aversion to it that you had an outburst in front of everyone.” The chief sighed. “You know, I’ve always believed that people working in this industry should have a strong stomach. Not one of us enjoy scandals like this – it’s _despicable_ – but once in a while, scandals do happen and it’s part of our jobs to cover it. I know you understand that. I’ve known you since you were an intern at this office and I wouldn’t have taken you in after your graduation if I didn’t think you could handle it.”

The entire situation with Kageyama’s scandal must have been affecting Tsukishima more than he dared to imagine because he answered without thinking. “This time is different.” He was weary and resigned and his voice sounded foreign to his own ears.

“I know. That much, I could tell.” The chief looked at Tsukishima as though she was annoyed by his entire existence. “Take a break, okay? Don’t show your face in the office while this scandal with Kageyama is going on because, regardless of your feelings, we’re going to cover it and I don’t want to see you moping around here while we do that. I’m giving you extended paid leave for however long this issue with Kageyama stretches out. Go be with your boyfriend and offer him moral support or something.”

Tsukishima was dumbfounded. He had been expecting the chief to give him a stern talking to – not a leave. Also, there was the matter of his ‘relationship’ with Kageyama, which he hadn’t even realized the chief had noticed. “Kageyama’s not my – we’re not – what are you talking about?”

Chief looked thoroughly unimpressed. “Go home, Tsukishima. Sleep or whatever, just get out of my office.”

Tsukishima was about to protest but the chief merely waved her hands like she was swatting a fly. “Shoo. Go away. I don’t want to see your face until all this is over. Your leave starts now.”

# 

The forced leave the chief sentenced Tsukishima to was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the leave meant that he didn’t have to sit at the office, pretending to focus on his work, as he powerlessly watched his colleagues feast upon the story of Kageyama’s past. However, without work to distract him, it also meant that now he had a lot of free time on his hands – time he could use to wallow in frustration and let his worried thoughts about Kageyama fester in his brain.

Tsukishima couldn’t decide which was worse. He had jumped into the bath as soon as he got home, hoping it would calm him down even a little but, by the time the water had gone cold and his skin had gotten pruney, he was still anxious and fidgety. At this point, he knew that the one thing that could settle his nerves was hearing from the subject of all his worry. He absolutely hated the feeling of being kept in the dark and not knowing what was going on with Kageyama and he really needed to talk to Kageyama now. Heck, he needed to talk to Kageyama _yesterday_.

The chief advised Tsukishima to sleep when he got home but his mind wouldn’t let him and he simply laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about what he should do. An idea crossed his mind and… it was a long shot but it couldn’t hurt. Maybe that person even knew something he didn’t.

Tsukishima took his phone out and dialed Yamaguchi. “Hey, can we talk?” He said into the receiver when Yamaguchi picked up.

“Tsukki?” Even that one word was so heavily tinged with concern and Tsukishima knew immediately that Yamaguchi had heard about Kageyama’s scandal. Naturally. Yamaguchi wasn’t living under a rock. “How are you? I’ve heard about Kageyama. Are you okay?”

Tsukishima let out a mirthless chuckle. “Why shouldn’t I be okay? I’m not the one with the scandal.”

“Tsukki…” Yamaguchi took on that familiar tone – slightly indulgent but mostly exasperated. The one he liked to use when Tsukishima was being deliberately obtuse. “I know you better than anyone. This is affecting you. How are you holding up?”

“I’ve been better.” Tsukishima opted for honesty this time. He was tired. “But it’s nothing I can’t handle. If you have time to worry about me then you should just think about Kageyama. He needs it more than I do.”

“Speaking of Kageyama, how is _he_ doing? I haven’t heard from him.”

Tsukishima felt his stomach drop. “I’ve been trying to reach him since yesterday but I haven’t been able to. That’s actually why I called you. I was hoping you’ve heard from him.”

“Sorry, Tsukki, I got nothing.”

“And Hinata?”

“I talked to him just yesterday and he knows just about as much as I do, which is to say, nothing.”

“Ah, well…” Disappointment tasted bitter in Tsukishima’s mouth. “I figured it was a long shot anyway, but I had to try.”

“Are you really okay, Tsukki? You know I’m–”

“You’re such a worrywart, Yamaguchi. I can handle this, I’m fine.” Tsukishima fought the urge to sigh. That would only make Yamaguchi worry even more. “Tell me right away if you ever hear from Kageyama, alright? Also, please tell him that I need to talk to him.”

“I will. Although, I’m pretty sure that if Kageyama was going to reach out to anyone, that person would be you.”

A few days ago, Tsukishima would have agreed. Right now, he wasn’t even sure of that anymore. “I hope so.”

# 

Later that evening, Tsukishima learned that Yamaguchi was right. If Kageyama ever thought of reaching out to anyone, it would be him. However, Tsukishima couldn’t find it in himself to feel happy about that as he read the message Kageyama sent.

_‘Hey, Tsukishima. I’m sure you’re aware of what’s happening. I’m doing okay but I think it’s best that we don’t see or contact each other for now. I just wanted to tell you that. No need to call me back or send a reply. I’m disposing of this number permanently. Take care.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chief actually has a name. It's just that I've gotten so used to calling her 'Chief' in my head so I didn't bother using her name anymore.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year! Apologies for the long wait..

Tuesday morning came and Tsukishima’s mood was no better – in fact, it was considerably worse. He scowled at his phone as he read Kageyama’s message again. What was Kageyama talking about now? It was best that they _‘don’t see and contact each other?’_ What kind of nonsense…?

If Tsukishima wasn’t aware that an army of reporters stood outside the Falcons Training Complex, he would’ve gone there himself just so he could see Kageyama and give the idiot a piece of his mind. He had been beside himself with worry over Kageyama for the past few days but Kageyama was able to dismiss him in the most blasé manner he had ever been subjected to.

In his conceit, Tsukishima had thought that it was absolutely important that he speak to Kageyama so he could (and he was going to admit this now) offer some form of moral support during this time of crisis. Turned out, he wasn’t as important to Kageyama as he imagined himself to be. How embarrassing. This was what he got for letting his guard down.

Well, if this was what Kageyama wanted then Tsukishima would be happy to oblige. He was going to stay away and mind his own business. See if he cared about what happened to Kageyama after this.

#

Some time that afternoon, Tsukishima learned that Maki, the rat who cornered Tsukishima in that back alley six years ago and eventually injured Kageyama, finally crawled out from whatever sewer he had been hiding in and revealed his own account of events from that night – and by ‘his own account,’ Tsukishima meant that the story was teeming with lies and painted Maki as the unquestionable victim of everything that happened, further cementing Kageyama’s status as a good-for-nothing (except for volleyball, apparently) violent delinquent.

As a result of this development, Kageyama had lost two of his biggest sponsors (something about the brands not wanting to be associated with hooligans) and was in danger of losing another one.

Tsukishima didn’t actually _care_. Caring meant that he should feel upset about this news but he wasn’t. He was in a perfectly great mood because he was no longer needlessly worrying about Kageyama. Truth be told, he didn’t even actively seek out this information – it just so happened that there was news about Kageyama everywhere he turned and he was bound to pick up some bits and pieces of it regardless of the fact that he… No. Longer. Cared.

This bit of information, in particular, came to him via the newspaper he got at Café Noir. He didn’t want to spend the entire day cooped up in his apartment – because it was a good day and he was in a good mood – so he invited Yamaguchi out for coffee. That talkative employee from the last time he was here (Aiko, she had said her name was) offered him a newspaper to read as he waited for Yamaguchi’s arrival.

In hindsight, maybe Tsukishima should’ve refused her.

“Is it just me or do your friends have a habit of being late?” Aiko said from beside Tsukishima, interrupting his thoughts. “Not that I’m judging or anything but the last time you were here you waited for, like, an hour? Well, not _an hour_ exactly but almost. My point is, it was a pretty long wait. Are you meeting the same person again, by any chance? I mean, it’s not my place to say but, like, does he always make you wait like this?”

Aiko spoke so rapidly Tsukishima didn’t even know where to start his response. In the end, he decided on the least complicated one. “You remember me?”

“Of course! I told you we don’t get a lot of new faces here. Besides, you’re very tall so you kind of leave an impression. Oh, I also remember the guy you were with last time!” Aiko pointed at the newspaper in Tsukishima’s hands, where Kageyama’s ugly mug was plastered on the front page. “That’s him, right? Kageyama Tobio? He’s some kind of volleyball superstar or something, right? I mean, I don’t really watch a lot of sports so I don’t know him but I saw it on the news the other day and I was like, ‘hey, that guy looks familiar!’ and I’ve been trying really hard to recall where I’ve seen him before and then you walked in here today and–” Aiko snapped her fingers, “–just like that, I remembered! He’s the guy you were with!” She looked as if she just pieced together a difficult puzzle and was feeling very proud of herself. “Is he coming to meet you here again today? Are you guys friends?”

Tsukishima gave Aiko a look that could curdle milk. “Has anybody ever told you that you’re incredibly annoying and would do everyone a huge favor by keeping your mouth shut?”

Aiko flinched. She looked like someone just stepped on her cat. “I, uhm – that is – yes. All the time. People tell me that all the time.” She said in a small voice. She worried at her bottom lip and looked at her shoes in a very obvious attempt of avoiding Tsukishima’s eyes. “I’m sorry… I’m – I have…”

“Aiko! Are you annoying the customers again? I swear if I get one more complaint about you… get in the kitchen!” An angry voice bellowed out from behind the counter.

Aiko’s head snapped up. She hurriedly wiped at the corner of her eye and left without another word.

“You made her cry.” Someone said from behind Tsukishima. The voice was gentle but Tsukishima could recognize the edge of a reprimand.

“I’m pretty sure it was her manager who did that.” Tsukishima said in futile defense as Yamaguchi slid into the booth in front of him. “I can’t say she didn’t deserve it.”

“She was just trying to be nice. I don’t think she realized she said anything you might find offensive. What happened since we last talked?” Yamaguchi’s eyes travelled to the newspaper now laid out on the table. “ _Oh_. No wonder you’re upset.”

Tsukishima grabbed the newspaper and tossed it aside, away from his and Yamaguchi’s sights. “I don’t care about that – or rather, I have been instructed to stop caring about that.”

“What do you mean?”

“See for yourself.” Tsukishima took his phone out and navigated to the last message he received from Kageyama. He shoved the phone into Yamaguchi’s hands.

“Kageyama asked you to stay away from him?”

“Yes.” Tsukishima confirmed in a tone that suggested he found the idea absolutely preposterous. “And through a text message, of all things. His Majesty Kageyama Tobio didn’t even deem me worthy of a phone call.”

“Kageyama hasn’t said anything about this scandal, has he?” Yamaguchi looked like he was trying to figure something out. “He hasn’t offered an explanation of what really happened ever since the story came out.”

“That’s because he’s an idiot. He could easily end this controversy and save his reputation if he just came out with the truth but, instead, he’s keeping his silence and not doing anything.”

“He’s been silent this whole time and the one instance you hear from him, he’s asked you to stay away for the time being.” Yamaguchi paused and studied Tsukishima’s expression. “Tsukki, I think you’re interpreting this the wrong way. Rather than _stay away from me because I don’t need you_ , don’t you think it’s _stay away because I don’t want to drag you into this_?”

Tsukishima raised a skeptical eyebrow but otherwise didn’t say anything.

“Think about it. Kageyama can say that the fight was started by the other party and he was just trying to protect a former teammate,” Yamaguchi continued, “but he probably realizes that people would want to know who this former teammate was and, one way or another, your name is bound to come up.” He looked straight at Tsukishima. “You get what I’m trying to say, right? By keeping quiet and asking you to stay away from him, Kageyama thinks he’s protecting you from being dragged into this controversy.”

Tsukishima turned the words over in his head. It actually made sense and if he hadn’t been acting a little too emotional for his own good for the past few days, the thought might have occurred to him as well. He rested the heel of his palms against his eyes and let out a frustrated huff. He hadn’t been the most rational of people these past few days, huh?

“Ugh, you’re right. Kageyama _would_ think of something stupid and convoluted like that.” Tsukishima moved his hands away and looked at Yamaguchi with exasperation written on his face. A few seconds earlier, he had been furious at Kageyama, but now that he had a different perspective on the situation, his anger slowly dissipated and gave way to mild annoyance because, seriously, what made Kageyama think that this was a good idea? “What does he think this is? Some afternoon melodrama with a self-sacrificing lead?”

“At least, you know he has your best interests at heart?” Yamaguchi said lightheartedly. The atmosphere had improved now that Tsukishima was no longer seething at the mere thought of Kageyama. “I don’t know if you’ve realized this already but Kageyama has only ever tried to protect you.”

Tsukishima couldn’t really argue against that statement. Kageyama’s injury from six years ago was enough proof and he was grateful for that. However, in the years that passed since then, Kageyama seemed to have forgotten something very important – Tsukishima wasn’t some helpless woodland creature that constantly needed protection.

Not that Tsukishima didn’t appreciate Kageyama’s efforts to shield him from the controversy but, in all honesty, he was never a neutral party in any of it. In the story of Kageyama’s injury, he was one of the main characters, and the fact that he had been excluded until now was only thanks to Kageyama’s tenacious effort to keep quiet. Well, Tsukishima had had enough of that. If his name got dragged into the mess because the truth was revealed, then so be it. That was how it should have been in the first place, anyway.

“I’m very offended that he even thinks to sacrifice his hard-earned reputation to protect me. Last time I checked, I’m a grown man. I can take care of myself.” Tsukishima took his phone back from Yamaguchi. “Sorry, I invited you here but I’m going to ignore you for a bit. I have a few phone calls to make.”

Yamaguchi only looked too happy to accommodate. “Oh, sure. Take your time. I’ll drink coffee while you’re busy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there might still be some mistakes i missed since i really wanted to get it up asap cos it's been ages since the last update.. i'll check back later for mistakes haha sorry ^^
> 
> also, everyone needs a best friend like yamaguchi tbh


	28. Chapter 28

“Are you _sure_ you really want to do this?”

“Ask me one more time, I dare you.”

“You really _absolutely_ want to do this? Of your own free will?”

“How many times do I have to say it?”

“Hey, I’m just making sure that you’ve thought this through. I don’t want you regretting this later and then blaming me.”

Tsukishima could almost feel his veins throbbing in irritation. “I wouldn’t have gone to you if I wasn’t sure, Fujiwara.” He leveled a look at the man in question. “Seriously, I thought you’d be happier about this. Weren’t you the one who kept on asking about how Kageyama got his injury?”

Fujiwara leaned back in his seat and looked at Tsukishima with accusation in his eyes. “Yes, and every time I asked, you pointedly told me to mind my own business. Excuse me if I’m finding it a little hard to believe that now, you’re suddenly willing to tell me the real story and even asking me to write about it. Not to mention, asking me to convince the chief to include it in our next issue. That last part doesn’t need much effort from me but I still feel like I’m in an alternate dimension or something.”

It did sound suspicious when Fujiwara put it that way. “Look, I’m not planning anything. I just want to clear Kageyama’s name and you earn cred and bring in more readers to our magazine along the way. Where’s the problem? It’s a win for all of us.” Tsukishima said it like it should be a no-brainer.

“You see, even if I know all that, I can’t help but think that you’re up to something.”

Tsukishima crossed his arms in defiance. Really, he should be offended that Fujiwara couldn’t trust him not to have an ulterior motive. Not that he didn’t actually have one – part of the reason he decided to finally spill the true story was because it was the quickest way to get Kageyama to come and talk to him. If Tsukishima revealed the truth against Kageyama’s wishes, Kageyama would definitely confront him about it. (Tsukishima also kind of wanted to annoy Kageyama a little bit after brushing him off with a text but that reason was too petty to acknowledge.)

“Can you not question good fortune when it comes to you?” Tsukishima said. “I don’t care what you think of me the rest of the time, trust me just this once.”

That, finally, convinced Fujiwara. “Fine, I’ll help you, but for the record, it’s not because I suddenly believe you have pure intentions. It’s because this is about Kageyama and from what I’ve observed, you don’t fuck around when it comes to him so I’ll take your word on this.”

Tsukishima generously let the comment about Kageyama slide. “Good. I’m glad we’ve come to an understanding.” He said before launching into a complete, detailed retelling of the events from six years ago.

#

By the time Tsukishima finished telling him the real story, the look on Fujiwara’s face had considerably soured. “I can’t believe no one has even bothered to verify Maki’s account of events since this story came out.” He said with disapproval. “I understand the need to keep up with whatever story is hot at the moment but they should at least make sure it’s true.”

At hearing those words, Tsukishima felt a surge of new-found respect for his former partner. “I always thought you looked really sloppy, but you do take your job seriously, don’t you?” He said, ever unable to deliver a straightforward compliment. “Although, to be fair to other writers, the only people who know about what really happened have been really quiet except for Maki. Kageyama, for one, seems resolute in keeping his silence and I’m only surfacing now…”

Tsukishima trailed off, allowing Fujiwara to fill in the blanks for himself. Fujiwara simply nodded in understanding. “Essentially, it’s going to be Maki’s word against yours – and the fact that you’re Kageyama’s former teammate might cast doubts on your story.”

“That’s right, which is why I need your help with something else.” This was the second part of Tsukishima’s plan. He had already gotten Kuroo on board but it didn’t hurt to have one more person who could help – especially if that person had the kind of connections Fujiwara had. “There were other guys that night. Maki’s friends. If we can find at least one of them and get them to support my account of events that will lend my story the credibility it needs.”

“They’re Maki’s friends, right? Convincing them to side with you isn’t going to be easy.”

Tsukishima had to concede that part. Fujiwara did make a good a point. “I know, but let me worry about that. I just need you to help me find those guys. You know a lot of people in a lot of shady places, right?”

“What kind of person do you take me for?” Fujiwara said in mock-offense. Tsukishima merely shrugged in response.

Fujiwara stroked his messy beard, lost in thought. “Okay, I’m in.” He declared after a moment. “I already agreed to help you so I might as well go all out. Although, I’m still unsure how the public is going to take all this. In my experience, it’s always easier for people to believe malicious lies meant to destroy a person’s reputation than be convinced by a truth that’s meant to restore a good name. It’s disgusting but people can be really nasty like that sometimes.”

It wasn’t like Tsukishima hadn’t thought of that – that same thought had certainly crossed his mind quite a few times when he first formulated his plan – but still, he had to believe that revealing the truth and hoping people would believe it was better than sitting around doing nothing while people tore at Kageyama left and right.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, Fujiwara,” Tsukishima sighed, “but for Kageyama’s sake, let’s hope that this will be one of those moments where our faith in humanity is restored.”

#

Roughly 24 hours after his conversation with Fujiwara, Tsukishima received good news. Kuroo had found one of the guys Maki was with the night Kageyama got injured and – even better news – the guy was currently in Tokyo.

Having ramen for dinner on Wednesday night wasn’t exactly on Tsukishima’s to-do list, but when he received the call from Kuroo that evening, asking him to meet at a ramen restaurant in Asakusa to talk to the guy, he dashed out of his apartment faster than Kuroo could say ‘shoyu.’

Following the directions he received, Tsukishima soon found himself in a narrow alley near Sensoji, standing in front of a small ramen restaurant that was wedged between a bakery and a boutique. The restaurant’s entrance was flanked by two menu boards and on its façade was a huge, gleaming sign bearing its name – Tsukishima couldn’t have missed it if he tried.

Tsukishima crossed the threshold and was immediately greeted by the sight of Kuroo already seated at the counter, slurping noodles.

“Sorry, I ordered ahead of you,” Kuroo said when he noticed Tsukishima’s arrival, “I haven’t eaten anything since morning and I’m starving.”

Tsukishima eyed the quickly disappearing ramen in Kuroo’s bowl. “I can see that.” He sat at the spot next to Kuroo. “So, where’s the guy we’re supposed to meet?”

Kuroo pointed at the back of the ramen cook who was busy stirring in noodles into the boiling water. “Kunimoto Goro, owner of this place. As you can see, he’s very busy right now with all these customers so you should probably order something first. Closing time is in an hour. We’ll talk to him then.”

Tsukishima reached for a menu and studied it even as he continued talking to Kuroo. “Honestly, I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. How did you find him so fast?”

“I’m slightly offended that you have so little faith in me. Although, I have to admit that finding this guy didn’t actually take much effort. He has a record from four years ago so it was easy to track him down.”

Tsukishima’s ears perked up at that. _Record? As in…?_ He looked at Kuroo with the question in his eyes.

“Robbery.” Kuroo explained. “He spent two years in prison and then took over this restaurant from his father after he got released.”

“Do you think he’ll be willing to help us?”

“That, I don’t know. He has been on the straight and narrow ever since he served time, but who’s to say he’s not still friends with Maki?”

Tsukishima mulled over Kuroo’s words and had to agree – just because Kunimoto was a changed man, that didn’t mean that he would readily betray an old friend, even if said friend was a scumbag like Maki. “We should tread lightly, then.” Tsukishima said to Kuroo. “He’s not expecting us, is he?”

“Not at all.” Kuroo shrugged. “As far as he’s concerned, we’re just two paying customers – which reminds me, I think you should order something now. The assistant cook is glaring at you, probably for taking up space and not buying anything.”

Tsukishima closed the menu he had been idly leafing through. He didn’t actually need it because he only ever ordered the same kind of ramen all the time. “I’ll have shoyu.”


	29. Chapter 29

Tsukishima recognized that face. In fact, he remembered it far too vividly for comfort and he almost choked on his ramen when Kunimoto turned to face him and Kuroo for the first time. They were the only customers left and Kunimoto was telling them that the restaurant was about to close.

Kunimoto Goro. Tsukishima hadn’t known what the guy’s name was before this, but now that he finally saw his face, he realized that this was the guy who first stopped him on the street, that night six years ago. The same guy who held him in place and stopped him from interfering while Maki swung at Kageyama’s knee.

Tsukishima kind of felt like throwing up. The feeling wasn’t as strong as what he used to experience but he could recognize the familiar twist in his stomach well enough. Still, he had to persevere. He didn’t come all this way only to back out because he was spooked by his memories. He stared Kunimoto squarely in the eyes and had a little moment of triumph when he saw the flash of recognition in them.

“Actually, my friend and I have been waiting for the restaurant to close.” Kuroo said. “We wanted to talk to you after you’re done with work. You’re Kunimoto Goro, right?”

Kunimoto’s countenance, which had been friendly in dealing with his customers, turned icy and defensive. “Who’s asking?”

“I am.” Tsukishima said with finality. His tone daring Kunimoto to refuse him the conversation he was about to ask for.

Kunimoto studied Tsukishima’s face carefully. “I remember you. You’re that guy from before. That thing with Maki.” He said vaguely. “What brings you here now?”

Tsukishima was slightly taken aback at the nonchalance with which Kunimoto addressed him and referenced the incident from six years ago. ‘That thing with Maki’ indeed. Kunimoto spoke of it so casually, it was almost irritating. “It’s good that you remember me. That makes this easier.” He said with a sneer. “I’ve come to collect a debt.”

Kunimoto let out a huff that was partly annoyed, partly resigned, like he had known this moment would eventually arrive but he wasn’t the least bit happy about it. “I also remember the guy with you that night. He’s some big shot athlete now, isn’t he? Though I hear he’s having problems lately because of some shit Maki started.” Probably seeing the look of surprise on Tsukishima’s face, Kunimoto added. “I haven’t been hiding under a rock.”

Tsukishima allowed himself to be impressed. At least this guy wasn’t just some stupid muscled thug, like he previously assumed. “If you know that much, then you’ve probably already guessed what I came here for.” Tsukishima had planned to go for subtlety but, apparently, that wasn’t going to work with this guy. Might as well go for it. “You were there that night so you should know that the things being said against Kageyama are false. Someone turned the story on its head and you have your friend, Maki, to thank for that.”

Kunimoto clenched his jaw. “Make no mistake, that bastard is not my friend.” He said through gritted teeth. It seemed like Tsukishima offended him with the mere implication that he had been on speaking terms with Maki.

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at that. Considering Kunimoto had willingly participated in Maki’s scheme from back then, he had some nerve to get offended by the implication that they were friends.

“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s just that when you held me back as Maki hit Kageyama’s knee I was under the impression that you two were bosom buddies. Those things are very easy to misunderstand, you know?”

The mention of his role in Maki’s scheme seemed to knock the fight out of Kunimoto and he quickly backtracked. He sighed. “Look, Maki and I hung around together back then because we were both young and stupid, but at some point, Maki’s stupidity got out of control. He started hanging out with dangerous guys and dragged me into shit that got me in prison, while he got away scot-free. That’s three years of my life wasted behind bars because of him. You think I’d still consider that guy my friend?”

Tsukishima turned over the newly acquired information in his head. So, Kunimoto held a bit of a grudge. That could be useful in convincing the guy to speak out, he decided with cold logic. “Then, considering your history with Maki, you wouldn’t mind if I ask you to speak against him? The story from six years ago came out but it was made to appear as though Kageyama is at fault. I plan to release a counter to that and it would be more credible if you would contribute your own statement to support mine.”

Kunimoto looked at Tsukishima in disbelief. “Are you fucking with me right now? No. No way in hell am I doing that. I don’t want to get dragged into any other shit involving Maki ever again. I just got out of prison a year ago. I’m trying to turn over a new leaf, man. I’m done with that guy.”

That surprised Tsukishima. It wasn’t like he had been expecting Kunimoto to agree right away. In fact, he had been expecting an initial refusal, but one along the lines of ‘Maki’s my friend and I wouldn’t betray him’ and not ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with Maki anymore, I just got out of prison and I’m starting over.’ For that kind of refusal, Tsukishima didn’t have an effective counter prepared.  “I get what you’re trying to say, but–”

“I’m sorry. It probably doesn’t mean anything now but I regret what I did to you and your friend.” Kunimoto said. Tsukishima could tell he was being sincere. “I wish I could help you out but, when I finally got out of prison, I promised my – I promised to cut all ties with Maki, and doing this, I might get caught up with him again, you know? I’m just starting to turn my life around. I’m really sorry but I can’t help you.”

“Just listen to me, it’s not like–”

“No.” This time, Kunimoto’s voice sounded a lot more firm. Like his decision had been set in stone long before Tsukishima arrived and there was no turning back. “I can’t take this risk. I just – I’m no longer just thinking of myself.” Kunimoto gave Tsukishima a meaningful stare. “I have a wife and child now. I need to take care of them first.”

Tsukishima was not above using Kunimoto’s apparent guilt – no matter how slight it may be – in order to get what he wanted, but those words (and the look in Kunimoto’s eyes) made him reconsider. He had always said that he recognized a fight he couldn’t win when he saw one – and this was definitely that. He didn’t know what Kunimoto had to go through the past few years but if the guy’s steely determination was anything to go by, then this unyielding refusal was likely coming from a deeper place that Tsukishima had no right to pry into.

Kuroo, who had been silent throughout the conversation, stood up and laid a hand on Tsukishima’s shoulder. “Hey, Tsukki, I think we should go for now.”

Tsukishima had really hoped that Kunimoto would be able to help them but it was starting to look like that was out of the question. He suppressed the sigh he so badly wanted to let out. Maybe they should give Kunimoto more time to think. “Alright.” Tsukishima stood up as well. “We’ll leave for now. I’ll come back again so please think about my proposal. It would really help Kageyama out.”

#

Kuroo had just crossed the threshold out of the restaurant, with Tsukishima close behind, when Kunimoto called out to them again. “Don’t come back. There’s no way you can convince me and you’ll only be wasting your time.” He took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and thrust it into Tsukishima’s hand. “Take this. I couldn’t give the kind of help you want, but this is the least I could do. Look for Ogata Akira. He’d be willing to help you.” Kunimoto said before giving them a curt nod and disappearing back into the restaurant.

Once Kunimoto was gone, Tsukishima unfolded the piece of paper and saw that it was a flier for some club in Shinjuku – with the highly questionable name of ‘Pink Lady.’

“What is it?” Kuroo asked as he peered over Tsukishima’s shoulder to get a better look. He let out an amused snort once he did.

Tsukishima did not like that sound. “You know this place?”

“Well, I haven’t been there, if that’s what you’re asking, but I’ve heard of it before and I know where it is. We can go there right now if you want. The night is still young, after all.” Kuroo gave Tsukishima a shit-eating grin. He looked like he was enjoying this latest development, for some reason. “Fair warning, though. You’re not going to like it.”

Tsukishima had a bad feeling about this. He suppressed a shudder. It seemed like this night was just starting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back to regular programming, more or less (by which I mean it wouldn't take forever until the next update). We're nearing the end of this thing.


	30. Chapter 30

The gaudy neon lights of Pink Lady’s moniker flickered dangerously in the dark and provided a menacing glow to the two bouncers flanking its entrance. The expressions they wore made them look like they were standing guard at the gates of hell itself.

 _They might as well be,_ Tsukishima thought with disdain. All his worst fears turned out to be true – the questionably named Pink Lady in Shinjuku was, indeed, some dodgy strip club.

Tsukishima turned to his side and shot Kuroo an accusing look. “You could have warned me properly.” He hissed in Kuroo’s ear. “I expected it would be some kind of strip club, but you could’ve told me that it was a strip club operated by _yakuza._ ” Tsukishima prided himself at being a good judge of people and, no matter how he looked at it, those two bouncers were definitely gang underlings of some sort.

Kuroo wasn’t the least bit bothered. “Would it have made a difference if I told you? If you knew it was this kind of place, would you have changed your mind and decided not to go anymore?” He asked in a way that suggested he already knew the answer. The most annoying thing about Kuroo was that, sometimes, he seemed to understand Tsukishima more than _Tsukishima_ did.

Now that Tsukishima thought about it, his answer was a flat-out ‘no.’ No, he wouldn’t have changed his mind even if he knew exactly what kind of place Pink Lady was. Heck, he wouldn’t have changed his mind even if Kuroo had said they were taking a trip to the edge of the earth just to find the guy who could help them with the ‘Kageyama Situation.’

Tsukishima held his tongue (and his pride, in the process). Oh, the things he did for Kageyama. He made a mental note to make Kageyama _pay_ once this entire mess was over.

Kuroo threw a smirk at Tsukishima’s general direction, annoyingly smug at having made his point. “I’m glad we’ve come to an understanding. Let’s go in.”

#

That night’s ‘special attraction’ at Pink Lady was already in full-swing by the time Kuroo and Tsukishima entered. Tsukishima was of the opinion that he deserved an award for not bolting towards the exit at the sight of the two oil-lathered women on stage, gyrating against each other’s naked bodies.

Tsukishima turned his eyes away and scanned the room. The sooner they could find Ogata Akira, the better. He spotted the bar counter at the back, currently manned by a guy with ponytailed hair. He leaned in and whispered to Kuroo. “Let’s ask the bartender.”

They made their way across the room, careful not to bump into any listless drunk who might turn out to be a gang member, and plopped down on the farthest seats on the left side of the bar counter. There were other customers who came before them so they went ignored for the first few minutes.

After serving all the existing customers, the bartender, with the easy, swaggering confidence of someone who looked good and knew it, finally turned to them and asked for their orders.

As much as Tsukishima wanted to get straight to the point, he knew they had to tread carefully. After all, they were in an unknown environment surrounded by what he could guess to be people from the underground.

They ordered two glasses of scotch like any normal customer would.

When the bartender handed their orders, Tsukishima decided to strike up a conversation, in an effort to segue into what they really came for. “You’ve been working here a long time?”

“Too long.” The bartender said, unimpressed. “So, what do you people want from here?”

Tsukishima put on his best ‘I’m perfectly innocent and totally not up to something so I’m surprised and mildly offended by that question’ look.

It didn’t work.

The bartender squinted his eyes at Tsukishima and Kuroo. “Don’t deny. I could tell, the moment I saw you. You don’t look like the sort of people who would come to this place unless you had important business so, what are you up to? You guys undercover cops or something? Because trust me, you’re doing an awful job at the whole ‘undercover’ part.”

 _Undercover cops?_ That was quite possibly the worst thing they could be mistaken for in a club full of yakuza. “That’s where you’re wrong. We’re not cops.”

Kuroo chose that moment to join in the conversation. “We’re looking for someone and we’ve been told that we could find him here. Do you know a certain Ogata Akira?”

The bartender gave them a dangerous look. “Who are you and what do you want from me?” Judging from the expression on his face, this bartender – or Ogata Akira, as it turned out to be – was no stranger to unexpected visits from people he didn’t know and was not about to shy away from confrontation, violent or otherwise.

“I’m surprised you don’t recognize him.” Kuroo answered with bravado that would have been far less convincing on anyone else. “Kunimoto realized who he was right away.”

In Ogata’s defense, Tsukishima didn’t recognize him either. As far as Tsukishima remembered, there were no long-haired pretty boys that night six years ago.

“Kunimoto…?” Ogata’s eyes widened in realization. “Goro-chan sent you here? Who the hell are you people?”

“I’m Tsukishima Kei. You may know me as one of the guys you beat up six years ago, on Maki’s orders.”

Ogata made a disgusted face. “Maki is an asshole who deserves to rot in a smelly ditch. I don’t take orders from him. At least, not anymore.” He added in a quieter voice that Tsukishima would have missed if he wasn’t listening closely enough. “But yeah, I remember you now. So, again, what do you want?”

Ogata didn’t seem hostile, at any rate, so Tsukishima allowed himself to relax a bit. “I’m not sure if you know this, but the guy who was with me that night is a pro athlete now. He’s been having problems lately because Maki made up a story about the events six years ago that could ruin his career. We intend to put a stop to that but we need your help. We’re going to release a counter to Maki’s story but for that to work, we need to establish its credibility. You were also present that night and–”

“Wait. Let me stop you right there because you’re talking too much. I think I already know where this is going.”

For a moment, Tsukishima was afraid that his hopes would once again be smashed into pieces, but one look at Ogata’s eyes changed his mind. He couldn’t even deny the spark of interest he saw in them.

“Have I mentioned that I hate Maki’s guts? Because I totally do.” Ogata gave Tsukishima an almost feral grin. He reached over the counter and patted Tsukishima’s cheek. “Say no more, buddy. I’m in.”

#

Several years working for Sports Monthly and still, Tsukishima wasn’t used to the monthly deadline grind. Even if he didn’t have much to do this time (he was still, technically, on ‘forced leave’ under Chief’s orders), the entire hellish week of sleepless nights still sucked the life out of him. He wasn’t required to stay there overnight – let alone every day and night of the week – but he had to show solidarity, especially when he was so invested in one particular article.

Only a few hours to go before the deadline, everyone’s energy reserves seemed to be dwindling close to empty and some people were stealing a few minutes of sleep whenever and _wherever_ they could. On one of the couches by the corner, two junior writers were huddled together under a blanket, soundly asleep, while beside him, Fujiwara was conked out on top of the desk, drool threatening to land on top of a printed copy of the, henceforth dubbed, ‘Counter-Maki Article.’

Tsukishima snatched the paper away before Fujiwara’s gross drool made contact. He ran his eyes briefly through its contents – a force of habit, more than anything. He had read the article many times before during the writing process because, being the main source of information, Fujiwara had wanted to keep him as involved in the writing process as possible. It was something Tsukishima really appreciated, although he would never tell Fujiwara that.

After what seemed like the thousandth revision, both Tsukishima and Fujiwara had decided that the article was as good as it was going to get and sent the finalized version off. Now, all they had to do was wait for the magazine’s publication and the public’s response, which was, arguably, one of the most difficult parts of this whole process – second only to finding Maki’s associates and convincing even one of them to give a statement for the article.

Tsukishima would be lying if he said that he wasn’t nervous. He was, after all, a pessimist at heart. Despite Fujiwara’s assurance that _‘the article is so damned persuasive only a rock would not be swayed,’_  he couldn’t quite shake off all his worries. He had never been this nervous about the release of a Sports Monthly issue, and that includes the first time a photo he took was used for the cover page.

Tsukishima let the paper fall back to the desk and lightly slapped both of his cheeks – both to keep himself from falling asleep and to knock some sense back into him. There was no use worrying about things he couldn’t control, and the public’s opinion was definitely one of those.

Right now, all he could was (a little voice nagged in his head) hope for the best and wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally wanted to end this at 30 chapters, but you know, things happen and yadda yadda... anyway, we've got one more chapter to go so, hold on tight. We're almost there. ;)


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end...
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> or is it?

Tsukishima woke up to the sound of barking coming from the other side of his bedroom wall.

That was a new development. As far as he knew, his neighbor didn’t have a dog, which meant that, one, this dog was a recent addition to the apartment complex and two, he would have to confirm with the landlord if tenants were actually allowed to have pets – especially noisy ones who barked at five in the morning and disturbed his fitful sleep.

Tsukishima groggily opened his eyes and glared at the ceiling. The latest Sports Monthly issue had been published and distributed the day before, but most stores didn’t open until about six or seven o’ clock so responses would come in later than that, and while his forced leave had already been lifted, he wasn’t expected in the office until nine. He had been hoping to get a little more sleep since this was the first time he had slept in his bed in a week but, at the rate the dog was going, he wouldn’t be getting any more sleep even if he tried.

With a sigh, Tsukishima got up out of bed and decided to fix himself some breakfast. Might as well start the day early.

#

Two hours later, Tsukishima had eaten breakfast, showered, and was getting ready to leave his apartment. If he checked right now, he would likely see responses on the Kageyama article already (those kids on twitter were quick with these things) but he was saving it for when he arrived at the office. If recent experience had taught Tsukishima anything, it was that he shouldn’t check emotionally compromising news with no one around to offer him a more levelheaded assessment of the situation – and Fujiwara made for a pretty decent sounding board.

Tsukishima’s hand was already on the doorknob, poised to turn the door open, when his phone started to ring. He had half a mind to ignore it but changed his mind when he saw Fujiwara’s name flashing on the screen. Considering that the last time Fujiwara called him the day after a Sports Monthly release, it had been to inform him about the Kageyama scandal, he figured this would be a call he wouldn’t want to miss.

Tsukishima swiped across the screen. He hadn’t even said ‘hello’ when Fujiwara’s hurried voice came in. “Whatever you do, don’t come to the office today. Make that the entire week. Or two weeks. Month. I don’t know. However long this takes.”

“What’s going on?” Tsukishima felt a pang of worry. He clearly remembered that the Chief had personally lifted his forced leave, saying something about his head ‘finally being back on straight,’ so he surmised that the reason for Fujiwara’s instruction was unrelated to that – and very likely related to the latest Kageyama story they published.

“The press has picked up our Kageyama story and there’s a shit ton of them outside the office waiting for you. Unlike the Falcon training complex, our office building is totally unequipped to deal with the press raining down on us. I’m telling you, it’s pure chaos. It’s like the zombie apocalypse, except there’s less brains and more camera flashes.” Fujiwara said with the voice of a man who was very tired and wanted nothing more at that moment than a glass of very strong alcohol – and it wasn’t even nine a.m. yet. “Right now, we’re able to hold them off by saying you’re on extended leave, but they’re not fully convinced and I’m sure they’re going to lose patience soon. I have no way to confirm this but if they see you here I think there’s a chance that they would really eat you alive.”

Strangely enough, Tsukishima’s worry subsided after he heard that. It was unfortunate that their office was now overrun by members of the media but, compared to what he had been expecting Fujiwara to say, that bit of information wasn’t all that bad. There was a chance that the media would leave Kageyama alone while they were distracted with him – and he was basically a nobody. Apart from his place of work, the press would have a tough time finding him. The only way he could be found was if their HR department suddenly made his home address public, which wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. More importantly though, what does the media and the public think of his statements in the article? Did they even believe it? And if they did, did it mean they were going to stop coming after Kageyama now? Those are the things he really needed to know.

“How’s the response to the article?” Tsukishima asked. “Do people believe it? Or at the very least, was it enough to make them doubt Maki’s story?”

“You haven’t checked yet?” Fujiwara sounded surprised. “I thought that’s the first thing you would have done.”

How to say it without sounding pathetic? “I’m being cautious. I figured I’d check it once I got in the office. The last time I checked responses to a Kageyama-related article, my reaction wasn’t… ideal.”

Fujiwara hummed in understanding. “I get what you’re saying,” Bless him for not using that revelation to make fun of Tsukishima, “but really, there was no need for that. I’ve been monitoring since this morning and the response has been mostly positive. There are a few people saying that you’re covering for Kageyama in exchange for the exclusive with Sports Monthly, but there’s always assholes who say stupid stuff like that and no one’s taking them seriously. After we revealed Maki’s seedy background, people have been less likely to take his words at face value – which really says a lot about people’s susceptibility to being influenced by just about anyone – _but_ I digress. Anyway, we’re good. We got the response we’ve been hoping for and people are starting to reassess their hasty judgments on Kageyama.”

Relief washed over Tsukishima. He felt as though a huge thorn had been taken out from his lungs and he could finally breathe properly again. He took a moment to compose himself before answering in an even voice to hide the elation he felt. “Really? That’s good to hear.”

Fujiwara snickered on the other line. “That’s a really bad impression of a lackluster reaction. I could tell you’re very happy, asshole.”

Nope. Tsukishima wasn’t embarrassed. “Shut up.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Fujiwara laughed. “I would love to say, ‘you owe me,’ but this was your doing and all I did was write the story so I think I’ll save the gloating for another time. I wasn’t kidding about the not coming to the office thing, though. Seriously, don’t show your face around here for the time being.”

“Hey, as long as it’s considered as paid leave, I don’t mind.”

“I’ll pass that on to the Chief, though I can’t guarantee that she would agree. Anyway, I need to get going.” There was a rustling sound from Fujiwara’s end of the line. “The Blue Falcons called for a press conference today at ten. It’s going to be held at the Blue Falcons Training Complex. I’m going to cover it with Kurokawa.”

Not only did the public have a mostly positive response to the story, now, Kageyama’s camp was finally going to break their silence. It seemed like Tsukishima’s plan had worked accordingly. “Kageyama is finally going to speak out, isn’t he?”

“We don’t really know the details. All we’ve been told is that the Blue Falcons are going to release an official statement about the issues surrounding Kageyama.”

That was vague, but still better than the radio silence the Falcons had previously opted for. “Is there any way I’d be allowed to go with you?”

“You already know the answer to that.”

Tsukishima sighed. It was worth a shot to ask, even if Fujiwara was right. If he had been forbidden to go to the office because the media was waiting for him, then showing up at a Blue Falcons press conference was definitely out of the question. There was always a chance that his presence would do more harm than good. He really needed to talk to Kageyama, though. Preferably, now.

“I’ll make sure to tell him to call you right away.” Fujiwara quickly offered before Tsukishima could speak and, shoot, he was getting _way too good_ at the whole ‘reading Tsukishima’ thing. “Kageyama, I mean.”

“There’s no need for that.” Tsukishima said with a huff. “I’m pretty sure he would want to talk to me soon, if only to tell me just how unnecessary revealing my side of the story was.”

“You know him better than I do so, if that’s what you say then it’s fine. I really do have to go now, though. I’ll see you at the office when the situation calms down.”

“Okay. Thanks for the info.” Tsukishima took a deep breath. “And thanks for helping me out with all this.”

Fujiwara snorted. “Yeah, well, don’t get used to it. I still think you’re an asshole.”

Tsukishima smiled. “So are you.”

#

A slight, bespectacled man got up on the podium and walked towards the lectern. He had a rolled-up piece of paper on one hand, which he laid out on top of the lectern when he got there. He looked to the side, probably waiting for his cue to start, and gave a slight nod when he got it.

The roomful of reporters sat in earnest attention. The man adjusted his glasses and began to speak.

_“Good morning everyone. Thank you for being here today even though it’s on short notice. My name is Sasaki Kojiro and I am the manager for the Blue Falcons Men’s Volleyball Team. We invited you here today because we would like to clear the issues that have been surrounding one of our players, Kageyama Tobio._

_Following the release of an article in the magazine, Sports Digest, Kageyama has been on the receiving end of countless slanderous statements. The said article detailed an erroneous story about Kageyama’s injury from six years ago and talked about Kageyama’s alleged background as a juvenile delinquent, with a history of violence and supposed ties to underground groups._

_That being said, we would like to state, for the record, that Blue Falcons setter Kageyama Tobio is not, and has never been, involved in any delinquent or violent activity and does not have any relations, whatsoever, to any underground organization._

_Kageyama’s former knee injury was, indeed, acquired during an altercation, which occurred six years ago back when he was in high school, however, the circumstances surrounding this event that were mentioned in the Sports Digest article are false. Kageyama did not start the altercation and was not even primarily involved. He only happened to pass by during that time and saw that one of his then teammates was being beaten up by a group of young men and came over to help. The group was led by a certain Maki Keiichi, who, incidentally, is also the primary source of information in the Sports Digest article._

_The Blue Falcons Management Team, respecting Kageyama’s wishes, initially decided to keep its silence and wait for these issues to die a natural death, however, the rampant character assassination of Kageyama has grown to a point that it has started to affect not only his career and reputation, but also the good image of the TG Motors and Blue Falcons brand._

_Following these events, the Blue Falcons Management Team has decided to take a more hardline approach when it comes to false accusations made against any of our players. Starting with the issues surrounding Kageyama Tobio and going forward, we will now be taking all false accusations made against our players very seriously and will take any necessary legal action against anyone who would spread such._

_Thank you very much for joining us and have a good day.”_

The room erupted into movement the moment Sasaki walked off the podium. There was nothing wrong with the statement he delivered, per se. It addressed all the significant issues they were currently facing and stated what they were going to do next, all while also issuing a deterrent for future similar occurrences. It was short and straight to point – which was, as expected, not enough for the ‘friendly’ members of the media who always wanted more. So much more. Left and right, reporters were trying to get an additional statement out of Sasaki as security personnel safeguarded his exit path and fended members of the media off.

_‘Does this mean you’re going to sue Sports Digest and their informant?’_

_‘A recent article was released in Sports Monthly by Kageyama’s former teammate, any thoughts on it?’_

_‘The Sports Monthly article perfectly mirrors the story you shared today, is this your way of indirectly confirming that story as the truth?’_

_‘Do you have anything to do with the recent Sports Monthly article? Was that commissioned by the Blue Falcons?’_

_‘How is Kageyama doing? Why isn’t he here today?’_

_‘Where is Kageyama now?’_

Tsukishima scowled at his television. He found the reporters annoying but he could slightly relate – he also wanted answers to those last two questions. When he tuned into the live coverage of the Blue Falcons press conference, the first thing he had noticed was the distinct lack of a certain Kageyama Tobio.

Manager Sasaki had been filmed talking to Kageyama’s agent, Sato, before going up on the podium, but the player Sato was representing – and the undeniable main character of all this drama – was nowhere to be seen.

#

 _The floor sure is dusty_ , Tsukishima thought as he rummaged under the bed for his car keys. That was what he got for casually tossing them on top of the bedside drawer the night before. He probably missed his mark and the keys ended up falling, so now he was running ten minutes behind schedule with dust (and probably a whole lot of germs) on his hand.

The Blue Falcons press conference finished a few minutes earlier and, in the end, Manager Sasaki was able to leave the venue without incident and none of the reporters succeeded in wrestling any additional statement or information out of him.

Tsukishima figured Kageyama would want to talk to him once the Sports Monthly story came out, but the idiot was surely taking time, so he had decided to finally take matters into his own hands. He was going to the Blue Falcons Training Complex to talk to Kageyama, horde of waiting reporters be damned.

“Aha, there it is!” Tsukishima exclaimed when his hand finally made contact with the cool metal of his keys. He grabbed them, stood up, and quickly headed for the door.

After checking that he had his phone and wallet on him, Tsukishima swung the door open (perhaps more forcefully than he intended) and was surprised to find someone waiting for him outside.

# 

“You didn’t think to ring the doorbell? Or knock, maybe?”

“I just got here, okay?” Kageyama scratched at the back of his neck. Tsukishima kind of missed seeing that. “And I was thinking of what I should say or do first before I ring the doorbell, then you came out before I even had the chance to do so,” he added petulantly.

Tsukishima crossed his arms. “An explanation for your actions for the past few weeks would be a suitable place to start.”

“I would give you that explanation, if you give me an explanation for this first.” It was then that Kageyama took out a rolled-up copy of the latest Sports Monthly from his back pocket. “What is this about?”

“You were taking an awfully long time to address the issues about you, so I decided to give you a helping hand. A ‘thank you’ would be nice.” Tsukishima was aware that he was being petty, but he was still slightly annoyed at Kageyama so he was deliberately trying to rile the other up.

“This was completely unnecessary.”

“I knew you would say that.” Tsukishima said with a self-satisfied grin. “But you’re wrong. It was necessary because, otherwise, you and your management would have kept your silence about what really happened and the issues about you would continue until your entire career is ruined.”

“I was trying to protect you!” Kageyama said with the conviction of someone who truly believed that he had been doing the right thing. “I didn’t want to drag your name into this controversy, but now you went ahead and jumped right into the center of it!”

“There’s so many things wrong with what you just said, I don’t even know where to start. First off, I don’t need you to protect me, and the fact that you think I do is just… _offensive_. The sentiment is appreciated but, seriously, you’re going overboard with it. Second – and more importantly – I have always been at the center of this. Saying that I shouldn’t get dragged into it…” Tsukishima shook his head. When he spoke again, his voice took on a gentler tone. “It’s not fair to you. Everything, from the injury to this, it all happened because of me.”

“There you go again.” Kageyama shot Tsukishima a disapproving look. “This is exactly why I didn’t want to talk about you or the injury, because I knew you would go and blame yourself. I was hoping I could save you from having to feel guilty about this again.”

At hearing those words from Kageyama, Tsukishima felt the surge of a feeling he recognized but refused to name. It was a little too overwhelming that he had to take a deep breath before he could speak.

“I’m not blaming myself, I was simply stating a fact. I already moved on from what happened and no longer feel that debilitating guilt, but the fact remains that this all happened because of me, so you shouldn’t have to shield me from it at the expense of yourself. I’m not going to stand for that.” Tsukishima said with as much conviction as he could muster. Kageyama, annoyingly, had a severe case of ‘self-sacrificing idiot syndrome’ and needed to hear, in no uncertain terms, where he was coming from.

Kageyama looked at Tsukishima as though the other was some sort of creature beyond his comprehension. He spent a few seconds doing that before giving off a long-suffering sigh. “I still think the article you released was unnecessary but, alright. I guess you’re kind of right this time.”

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow. “Are you kidding? I’m _always_ right.”

Kageyama snorted at that. “I’m glad to know that even in situations like this, you’re still able to act like your shameless self.”

“I aim to please.” Tsukishima said with a shrug.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in? You’re making me stand outside while we’re talking. You’re so rude.”

Tsukishima stepped aside to make way for Kageyama and held the door open. “After you, Your Majesty.”

Kageyama looked like he wanted to laugh but was fighting hard not to out of some weird sense of pride. “I hate you.” He said in an endearing tone that took the heat right out of those words and gave them an entirely new meaning. He walked towards the door but stopped and turned to Tsukishima right before crossing the threshold into the apartment. “Ah, I just thought of something.”

Tsukishima looked skyward and begged for strength before addressing Kageyama. “And it absolutely can’t wait until we’re inside?”

“No, because it’s the first thing I should have done when I saw you.” Kageyama stepped closer – right into Tsukishima’s personal space – and gave the other a burning stare.

Tsukishima locked eyes with Kageyama. They were standing chest-to-chest now and Tsukishima had to grip the doorknob tightly to keep himself grounded. “If you don’t come inside in the next ten seconds, I’m going to send you away.”

“I’ll be quick then.” Kageyama said as he closed the gap between their lips.

Tsukishima sighed into Kageyama’s mouth, letting out all the pent-up frustration he accumulated throughout their separation, however brief. He let go of the doorknob and reached under Kageyama’s shirt, so that his hands rested on either side of Kageyama’s waist, and dug his fingernails in. They were surely going to leave a mark and Kageyama would probably nag at him for it but, at that moment, he didn’t care. That overwhelming rush of feeling from earlier was back again and it was stronger than ever. Tsukishima recognized it well enough and the thought of it made him scared and nervous, but also hopeful and excited. He still refused to give it a name, though, much less say it out loud.

At least, not yet.

He would eventually get there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD IT'S FINALLY DONE I CAN'T BELIEVE IT
> 
> I started writing this because I was bored one day and feeling distraught over the (then) lack of Tsukikage/Kagetsuki fics. It was supposed to be, at most, three chapters, but it kind of got away from me and here we are now, with 31 chapters and more than 57,000 fucking words in. I think this is the longest fucking thing I've ever written oh my gosh.
> 
> A big THANK YOU to everyone who has read, subscribed, commented, and left kudos on this fic. I swear, during the times when I felt tired of writing and thought 'why do I even bother?' your encouraging words and appreciation are what kept me working on this. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!
> 
> There are a lot of things about this fic I would love to fix, especially the inconsistent parts and the ones that make me cringe whenever I go back and read them again (if the last scene is anything to go by, I'm still awful at heart-to-heart talks), but I won't. I'd just leave this fic as it is for now because I honestly need to get away from this universe before I start working on the sequel.
> 
> ~~This story was always meant to have a sequel (remember when I said it got away from me? *awkward laughter*) so I'm going to work on that next. Don't expect it anytime soon, though, because I'm still incredibly lazy. :P~~
> 
> The sequel is up and you can find it here: [The Only Constant](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11627625)
> 
> ...and also the OiKuroo side story I was talking about here: [Hateful Guy & Apple Pie](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8717386)


	32. Bonus Scene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't tell anyone but I made a sort of bet with myself that if this thing reaches 500 kudos within the month that I posted the final chapter, I would write and post a short bonus scene so... here it is. :)

Tsukishima sat alone in the kitchen, beside the open window where slivers of light escaped through and bathed him in the pinkish orange glow of sunset. A cup of coffee stood on the table in front of him, but it had long since gone cold and he had already abandoned any intention of finishing it.

It was rather wasteful, considering the cup was still half full, but Kageyama had fallen asleep on the couch after they had lunch and Tsukishima had decided to make himself a cup of coffee for lack of anything else to do. It was only when he was done making it that he realized he didn’t actually want one.

With a sigh, Tsukishima took the cup and walked over to the sink. He emptied its contents into the drain, washed it, toweled it dry, and placed it back in the cupboard in an almost mechanical manner. He was getting bored hanging out alone in the kitchen like this, but he stopped himself from walking over to the couch and shaking Kageyama awake – even he wasn’t _that_ rude. And besides, it wasn’t like he didn’t notice. In fact, it was one of the first things that struck him once he and Kageyama were inside the apartment and he was able to take a proper look at the guy.

Kageyama was exhausted. He was practically dead on his feet and it was a wonder how he was even able to get to Tsukishima’s apartment without collapsing on the way. If the dark circles under his eyes were any indication, he probably hadn’t been sleeping properly since the entire scandal about him started and had been simply running on adrenaline, like the sports freak he was.

This was likely the first time in weeks that Kageyama was getting any semblance of a decent sleep, and with that in mind, Tsukishima made it a point not to disturb him – even if being forced to watch someone else sleep as one counted the hours was nothing short of torture. Kageyama had been sleeping for about five hours now, anyway, and Tsukishima figured he should be waking up soon.

If anything, Tsukishima should perhaps take it as a compliment that Kageyama was comfortable enough in his apartment – in his _presence_ – to be able to fall fitfully asleep like this, as though the events of the scandal were already some long forgotten, faraway memory, unable to reach the sanctuary of Tsukishima’s old, well-worn couch.

Yeah, that was one way to look at it. A _better_ way to look at it.

With a grin, Tsukishima walked over to the coffee maker and turned it on once again, this time making sure to prepare enough coffee for two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this off the cuff with no plan in mind and somehow I'm not entirely surprised that it ended up being a totally mundane, somewhat introspective, domestic scene. Have I mentioned that domesticity is my thing? Because it totally is.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Holidays 2017](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13110843) by [notquiteintoxicated](https://archiveofourown.org/users/notquiteintoxicated/pseuds/notquiteintoxicated)




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